


Newly Bound

by Jellyneau



Series: Newly Found Series [2]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-04
Updated: 2015-08-04
Packaged: 2018-04-12 21:59:28
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 42,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4496289
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jellyneau/pseuds/Jellyneau
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Doctor and Rose have moved their relationship to the next level after a harrowing experience in 17th century Newfoundland, but the upgraded status of their relationship has resulted in some very unexpected consequences. AU.</p><div class="center">
  <p> </p>
</div>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is the sequel to ‘Newly Found’. You don’t have to have read the other story (I’m not going to MAKE you), but there are definite references to it. You may want to bounce over to that story and have a peek first. 
> 
> This sequel is already posted on Teaspoon and Fanfiction dot net, but I thought I'd post it here as well. I've not revised it, as I thought it stood well enough on its own despite the few POV problems it has. I'm working on another fic at the moment that is a priority.
> 
> Now, I’m going to warn you. There’s smut. And a goodly amount of it at that. It’s not plot-free, however, and in fact, it’s completely (well, maybe not completely) plot driven. So if you don’t like that sort of thing, you will definitely NOT want to read on.
> 
> You’ve been warned.
> 
> In the interest of a recap, after some medicinal intervention, the Doctor has helped Rose recover her memories after they were erased by an alien species that banished her to 17th century Newfoundland. Due to a piloting error the Doctor ends up retrieving her a year late, after she’s lived as a colonist without him for that long. ‘Newly Found’ ended with them newly married and bonded, leaving Newfoundland to start their married life together on the TARDIS.

Stars twinkled in the sky above her as Rose finally drifted awake. She breathed deeply, encouraging the warm air to fill her leaden lungs which protested at being expanded so forcefully. Rubbing her eyes, she took in the beautiful view of the sparkling stars. Wait. View? She stared up at the dark sky above, confused. Wh… Where was she? It was then that memories of the night before… their wedding night... began filtering through her sleep addled mind. She was in the Doctor’s… no...their bedroom. 

A joyous feeling bubbled up inside her making her feel a bit giddy. Turning her head on the ridiculously soft pillow, her eyes found her husband, lips parted, snoring softly. He was lying on his back, his eyes dreamily moving under his closed lids, and his hair gloriously tussled. Her heart nearly felt full to bursting just looking at him. The idea that she no longer had to worry about trying to hide what she had always felt for this man was heady. 

Nestling back into her pillow she sighed happily and revelled in the gorgeous vision she was being treated to above. She once again marvelled that the TARDIS could make the ceiling of his room look so like the real night sky on earth. Or somewhere. No reason it had to be a view from earth, she realized. 

A jaw cracking yawn escaped her as she lay looking up at the fabricated stars. As comfortable as this bed was, her sleep had been quite disturbed. One obstacle to a restful night had been the memory filled dreams. And while these dreams weren’t unusual lately since she’d slowly been recovering her taken memories, the dreamed memories she’d been treated to last night had been very vivid ones. And the memories, some disturbing and others comforting and familiar, had played before her eyes all night long, it felt like. In one, she and the Doctor, her pinstriped Doctor, were being admonished and then banished from earth by Queen Victoria. In another, they were spending a quiet evening in the media room on the TARDIS watching Terminator 15 in 4D, eating popcorn. The evening ended with her falling asleep with her feet being gently massaged in his lap. 

But it wasn’t the lucid memories that finally woke her. It was something else. Her chest felt… heavy. The bothersome feeling began sometime during the night and between dreams it had grown quite uncomfortable, really, until finally she gave up trying to maintain her dreamy state. 

Shifting slightly in the bed, she found that on top of having an achy chest, she was also feeling a bit… sore. A blush stained her cheeks in memory of their activities the night before and a now familiar warmth spread through her. She’d had sex… with the Doctor! She’d never been able to truthfully utter either part of that sentence before now. 

The first part wasn’t something she’d actively fought against in her experiences in the past, really. Jimmy Stone had been her first love, and while he often pressured her, she denied him, telling him she wasn’t ready. And she hadn’t been, really. She’d only been sixteen, and since she was little her Mum had scared the life out of her with talk of single motherhood and ruining her life by having a baby too young. So she’d waited. She’d gone out with a few blokes after Jimmy, but it wasn’t until Mickey that she’d actually truly really considered it. Oh, they’d come close. Snogging and petting under a blanket on the couch while her Mum slept in the other room. But in the end, she knew it wasn’t something she’d probably ever share with him, either. As much as they’d acted like boyfriend and girlfriend, she never was completely able to shake the feeling that they were only ever meant to be mates. 

As for the second half of that sentence… with the Doctor... well, here he was. Brilliantly naked beside her in their bed. Happiness welled up again in her. They were married. And they’d had the perfect wedding, as far as she was concerned. Her thoughts drifted to yesterday. 

The ceremony itself had been simple and traditional… no surprise given the year - 1613. The Doctor… or rather, the TARDIS, had provided the stunning deep blue dress, shoes and pearl necklace and he confirmed later, as he heatedly removed said dress, that she’d looked quite stunning in it. 

After the ceremony they’d enjoyed the company of the Newfoundland colonists she’d come to know as friends. It was so hard saying good-bye to some. Especially Mary. A friend who had stood by her through so much in the eight months they’d spent together travelling across the ocean and living in Cuper’s Cove. She just wished she could’ve been honest with her about leaving. Instead, she and the Doctor stole off during the reception, knowing it was best if Mary didn’t really know what was going on. Seventeenth century settlers were pretty notoriously intolerant of perceived ‘magic’, and she worried for Mary’s safety if she knew the truth. It was better this way. But that didn’t stop Rose from feeling badly. Mary would never know where she and the Doctor went. They will just have disappeared. She just hoped that her proclamation of her love for her and her appreciation of her friendship would stand and that she would at least know what much.

The Doctor’s eyes moved again in dreaming and he murmured something unintelligible before rolling onto his side to settle in again. Rose held her breath, not wanting to wake him. This was too much fun. And he was exquisite to look at. All innocence in sleep. Funny how even the most mischievous child could look like an angel when dreaming. And in so many ways… that’s what he was sometimes. A mischievous child in a nine hundred year old Time Lord’s tenth body. Memories of him waggling his eyebrows suggestively, splaying his hand out for her to take, grinning his adorable goofy grin, and giving her bone-crunching hugs played in her mind. She sighed. It was such a relief to be able to just remember. It was a luxury she hadn’t had over this last year. But now, as she lay here, gazing at her ...husband! (That was never going to get old), she once again made a point to thank God… or any higher power that might be listening… for the return of her past to her in the form of her memories. ‘You don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone’. At least partly true. True in that you surely appreciate what you have even more when you’ve had to live without. On the other hand, before she lost him for a full year, she knew what she had with him was extraordinary. Travelling in the TARDIS, exploring time and space with him. At the time, she honestly didn’t think it could have gotten any better than that. Now, however, she knew it certainly could. She was going to be with him now. At least for her own forever. And he even went so far as to make it official in both human and Gallifreyan terms. She marvelled at how fantastic life could be. And she truly couldn’t imagine it getting any better than this. 

Watching him for a few more moments, she grinned. Needs less sleep, my arse, she mused, enjoying the view. Lying beside him, she studied his sleeping face. This was an opportunity she’d not had many times before. Watching him sleep. Turning on her side to get an even better look at him, she hissed a breath in as the heavy feeling in her chest bloomed into a full out ache, as if she’d been punched and a large bruise had formed. It was the same kind of pain she’d felt last night at the reception. Moving her hand up to prod her ribs with her fingers, she found she was quite tender. Sneaking a peek under the covers, she didn’t see anything unusual. Just her normal pink skin, as far as she could tell in the darkness of the room. She lay still for a moment to assess the feeling. As she relaxed, the pain dulled quickly but didn’t go away completely. Probably heartburn. She’d never had heartburn before, but she seemed to recall her Mum describing it like this. Her Mum had had it bad when she was pregnant with her. Well, at least she knew that wasn’t the cause of her problem. Though that did remind her of a topic she and the Doctor needed to discuss, she reminded herself. But as for her current discomfiture, she’d heard some foods could cause heartburn. Probably all the bloody turnip juice she’d been drinking lately, she mused, looking at the very man who’d forced her to drink it, day in and day out for the last two weeks. 

Smiling, she stared at him again. How could someone with the title ‘Oncoming Storm’ be so adorable? Unable to keep her fingers from gently repositioning a stray lock of hair that had fallen near his eye, she regretted it instantly when it caused his eyes to slowly flutter open. 

“Morning,” he said with a soft smile. 

“Morning,” Rose replied, equally as reverently. 

Smacking his lips, he took a deep breath and exhaled, “Blimey! I haven’t slept that long in years! Was a good nine hours. It’s almost like I overexerted myself last night or something,” he grinned cheekily.

Grinning right back, Rose agreed, “Well, it has been a while for you…” she halted. “Hasn’t it?” she said, realizing she was definitely just assuming. 

The Doctor chuckled. “Yes, my dear wife, it has been a very long time for me. At least three hundred years or so. I’d say that’s a while,” he affirmed. “Really no wonder I needed a bit of a kip.”

Then, studying her face, he broached, “What about you, Rose. How are you… feeling?” he said, alluding to her new more ‘experienced’ state, thanks to him, she assumed.

Smiling, tongue in teeth, she looked up at the stars on the ceiling. “I, um, feel tired, actually. And I feel a bit less… virginal, I suppose.”

Nudging himself closer to her to press himself against her under the duvet, he ran his hand slowly from just under her breast down to gently rest it on her abdomen. “Only a bit?” he teased, leaning in to press a kiss to her neck. 

Desire pooled low in her belly as he continued his ministrations. “Well, I… oooooh, I imagine I’ll feel even less virginal in a few minutes,” she breathed. 

The Doctor stopped and lifted his head to look at her. “A few minutes? Is that all you expect of me, Rose Tyler? I’m hurt!” he said, feigning insult. 

“Sorry, Doctor… I meant… in a few hours,” Rose amended quickly with a grin. 

“Better,” the Doctor said, resuming his attention to her neck. 

“Doctor?” Rose said, remembering what she’d wanted to ask him.

“Hmmm?” he hummed, kissing his way down toward her right breast.

“Doctor… I, oh my… we should talk about something…” Rose said, trying not to be completely distracted from her concern as his mouth found her nipple and gently laved at it.

“Mmmm,” he affirmed, clearly not interested in any particular topic of conversation at the moment.

“Doctor, really,” she said, giggling, gently tugging at his hair to get his attention. 

The Doctor reluctantly stopped his oral exploration of her chest and looked up at her, his face slightly flushed. “Whatever it is, Rose, you’d better make it quick. I’m finding it decidedly hard to concentrate with my wife lying naked underneath me.”

Rose giggled again before continuing, “I was just wondering… you know, about… birth control. I mean… we’ve never talked about it before, and I don’t know if we could even… you know… have a baby together,” she said unsurely.

“Oh. Well, I suppose there is a very minute possibility that we could conceive a baby together, but it’s monumentally unlikely. The percentages are quite staggeringly against it happening.”

“Oh,” Rose said, surprised at the matter-of-factness with which he’d imparted this quite important information. “So… we won’t ever be able to have children?” she asked, trying to sound unaffected.

The Doctor rolled off her a bit to bring himself up to eye level. “Did you… do you want to have children, Rose? I guess… I didn’t think you… I thought you knew. I don’t know why I thought you would know, though, for Rassilon’s sake. It’s not like we’ve ever talked about it before,” he said, growing exasperated with himself.

“Doctor… it’s okay, yeah?” she said, trying to ease his growing anxiety. “It’s not like I hadn’t wondered before we were married… I should have asked. I just… it doesn’t really matter anyhow. I was going to stay with you no matter whether it was a possibility or not.”

“Yes, but…” he ran his hand through his hair, “Rose, you know… if you stay with me, you’ll never have a family. A child of your own. Are you really okay with that? Because if you aren’t… “ he swallowed, “I would understand. Really, I would,” the Doctor said earnestly, inwardly chastising himself for his selfish stupidity. Why on Rassilon’s Red Robes would she knowingly choose that for herself. And now… well, she’d probably feel trapped. Out of a sense of duty to him, she’d stay and do without a proper family. The thought made him feel ill. She’d eventually resent him for it. Why wouldn’t she?

Watching uncertainty play across his features, Rose moved quickly to dispel it. “Doctor… look at me,” she said with decided certainty. “I won’t say that the idea that we can’t have children together doesn’t make me a bit sad. The thought of a little one with my inferior human genes and your brilliant Time Lord ones running amok inside it makes me smile. But a child with you is the only child I’d ever want. Because he or she would be a living celebration of our love for each other. But if we can’t have that… that’s okay. I wouldn’t ever want a child if I couldn’t have it with you, Doctor. And if us being together means it’s just ever going to be us together… that’s more than enough for me,” she said surely. Studying his face, she wasn’t happy with the lack of enthusiastic understanding on his part. “Oi. You got that? I’m not leavin’. And I’m never going to regret choosing you, yeah?”

The Doctor couldn’t help but grin at that. Ever the assertive human, his Rose. “Yeah,” he agreed.

“Now. I believe you going to de-virginify me some more. And I seem to recall a promise of hours, Mister Impressive,” she smiled, tongue touching teeth.

“Oh, I am that impressive, Miss Tyler. Or should I say… Mrs. Doctor? No. That doesn’t work, does it? Oh, I’ve got it! I’ll just be ‘Doctor Tyler’. Nice ring to it, that.”

“Doctor.”

“Hmmm?” he said, still pondering the name.

“Shut up and shag me, already,” Rose grinned.

“Quite right,” he agreed, once again moving to offer her neglected chest some more much needed attention.

Minutes did, in fact, turn into an hour. Sixty-two minutes to be precise. Precious seconds and minutes of sensual exploration on both his part and hers finally culminated in exquisite shared release. And unnoticed by both parties, golden flickers and tiny orbs of light poured forth from them to swirl around their joined bodies as if in celebration of their union.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so very very much for the reviews and faves! 
> 
> The plot thickens for our heroes as they try to move ahead with their lives together. But it's never easy for these two, is it?

With a decided spring in his step, the Doctor pulled Rose along the underbrush of the wooded area they’d landed in. “Not much further now, honest!” he sang back over his shoulder to his blonde human who had been once again teasing him about his parking skills. 

Rose grinned. “That’s what you said five minutes ago. I think you’re just trying to help me burn off the calories from the cinnamon rolls you fed me this morning,” Rose laughed, finding herself uncharacteristically out of breath and working to keep up with him.

“Weellll, you need sustenance, Rose. I intend to make sure you get a lot of aerobic exercise in the future. Likely hours a day, if I can talk you into it. So you’ll need a few more calories in your diet, yeah? Got to keep me satisfied, and all that,” he grinned.

“You’re insatiable, you are!” Rose laughed. 

The Doctor waggled his eyebrows suggestively. “Well it has been three hundred years, Rose. Not to mention the fact that there’s been a delicious blonde traipsing around in my TARDIS half-naked for a couple of years. A bloke can only take so much. And are you saying you don’t like it? Because I distinctly recall someone moaning… no, screaming might be a better word, in pleasure earlier during said activities.”

Rose slapped his arm lightly, “Stop! You’re a prat, you know that?” she laughed.

Despite her reaction, he knew he’d managed to stoke her sensual fire a bit, as the faint, addictive smell of her pheromones reached his nose.

“You love it,” the Doctor said knowingly, smiling widely.

“You know I do,” Rose laughed again. 

She had no idea how true that was.

They walked along for a few more minutes, Rose enjoying the stretch of her legs and feel of the Doctor’s hand in hers despite her lingering fatigue and continuing heartburn. More to make conversation than anything, she piped up, “Doctor… this honeymoon… are you gonna tell me anything about where we’re going? After all this walking, I probably deserve a hint,” Rose suggested.

“You humans. Always so curious!” he teased, squeezing her hand. “Alright then. Let’s see. I’ve never brought you here before, though I’ve thought of it. Quite a bit, actually. There won’t be any running for our lives while we’re here, for once. Thought that might be a plus. And…” he stopped, surprising her as she was pulled in for a quick snog, “I thought we could spoil ourselves a bit. Honeymoon, and all that,” he grinned.

“Hmmm. Well, that sounds fantastic, but it really doesn’t help me guess,” she smiled up at him. 

“No more hints, my precious girl. Allons-y, as they say! I want to make sure we get there before dark.”

Rose snorted a laugh. “Well maybe we should have parked a bit closer then, yeah?” she teased again. After another couple minutes of contented walking, Rose gathered the courage to bring up a rather touchy subject. “Listen, Doctor… I don’t want to kill the mood or anything, but we should probably pop in on my Mum after this stop. Probably should let her know we’re married now.”

The Doctor continued walking.

“I know you heard me, Doctor,” she said, tugging his hand. 

“Sorry - did you say something? I thought I heard something disturbing, but I couldn’t focus on it because my head is so full of happy thoughts of our upcoming romantic honeymoon,” he said lightly.

“Shut it, you! I haven’t seen her in a year,” she said pointedly. He cringed a bit at that. His fault. Bloody hell. He couldn’t very well deny her a visit with her mother after that monumental screw up, could he?

Knowing full well there was no arguing his way out of this one, he whinged, “But Rooooose, she’ll slap me. Again. And this time, it may not end with just one!”

“Yeah, well, I’ll be sure to shield you from her wrath. Besides, she deserves to know. I’m her only daughter, after all.”

“But that’s even worse, Rose! It’s bad enough she thinks I swanned off with you before… and that’s before she knew how old I was! She’ll never forgive me now that I’ve… well, you know!” he emphatically gestured at her nether regions. 

Rose couldn’t help but laugh at that. “Now that you’ve what? Deflowered her little girl?” Rose grinned, loving his discomfort. 

“Well, yes, exactly!”

“Doctor, she assumed you ‘deflowered’ me a long time ago, so you really needn’t worry about that.”

“She WHAT? Orion’s orbs, Rose! Didn’t you set her straight?” the Doctor said, mortified.

“Doctor, you clearly haven’t spent enough time with my mother if you think that I can change her mind about anything once she’s made it up. No, she has it in her head that you and I have been shagging for a couple years now. After a while I just gave up trying to convince her otherwise,” she said, setting him straight. “And anyway… what are you getting all uncomfortable about? You certainly didn’t seem that uncomfortable with the idea last night,” she smiled, licking her teeth.

“Yeah, but that’s… it’s your mother, Rose! How am I supposed to look at her now, now that I know she thinks that we’ve… you know!” 

“Doctor, my mother is quite aware of how the birds and the bees work. She had me, after all. And we have ‘you know’-ed. So what if she knows? Surely that’s the point of being married after all? Now take a deep breath and calm down. I promise I won’t let her slap you again, okay?”

The Doctor clasped her hand a bit tighter. “Right. Sorry. I’ve never had a ‘mother-in-law’, per se. Not one that I’ve had to actually meet face to face, let alone…” he shivered, “do domestic with.”

Rose sighed. Did she think he’d suddenly become the ideal son-in-law just because they’d gotten married? Bonded? She knew better than that. But he did marry a human, after all, so he’d just have to make the best of it. She loved her Mum and fully intended to see her more in the future. He’d just have to get used to the idea, that’s all.

“But… I guess if she had you, she can’t be all bad,” the Doctor finally said, smiling fondly down at her.

Rose’s lips pulled up into a smile again as she gazed up at her Time Lord. He was trying. For her. And she once again thrilled at the very thought that he even wanted to.

Standing on her tip-toes, she planted a firm kiss on his lips. “I love you, you Gallifreyan goof-ball,” she said affectionately.

“Goof-ball? Hmmm. Goof-ball,” he said, trying out the title. “Well, why not. I’ve been called worse,” he grinned.

They continued walking, and as they pressed ahead, Rose brought a hand up to her sternum. Damn. The burning ache hadn’t completely gone away this morning and it seemed to be getting worse again. 

Out of the corner of his eye, the Doctor spied her rubbing her chest. “You okay, Rose?” he asked, concerned. 

“Yeah - it’s just heartburn. You think they have antacids where we’re going? I thought it was going away, but it’s still bugging me,” she said, realizing she was a bit more breathless as well. Hmmm.

“I’m sure we can sort something out,” he said, brows furrowed. “In the meantime… maybe this will take your mind off…” he said, gently encouraging her through an opening in the bushes. They had reached the edge of a cliff. Before her, spread out down below like a blanket, was a complicated, mazey looking town, oozing warm lights. On the edge of the town sat a delicate, but modern looking structure that looked oddly made out of gauze. The effect was breathtaking. 

“We’re on the planet ‘BeOth’. Originally known for it’s production of Beryllium. Still produced here, but in less quantities in recent years. What we’re looking at, Rose, is the community of Sceafa. 

“It’s… beautiful,” she said appreciatively. 

The Doctor continued, enjoying being able to share information about their destination. “The whole planet’s population is only about 10 000. This is probably it’s biggest town and there are only a couple of thousand people. The whole lot of them originated from a handful of Gaets, a North Germanic tribe from earth living in what you know as Sweden. A handful were carted off of earth around the 2nd century A.D. by an insectoid race called the Kalik… that was back when they were quite a bit more carnivorous than they were in your time… to be cultured as a food source. Problem was, the Kalik managed to get themselves embedded in a nasty civil war not long after relocating them and basically got completely sidetracked by the 300 year war that they forgot about the colony. The humans, ever resourceful, you lot, managed to live and multiply quite happily without the Kalik harvesting them.”

“Wait… when are we? Earthwise?” Rose asked, confused. 

The Doctor grinned. She was sorting it out. “Oh, about the year 2 563. Spring, I think,” he smiled, loving the sparks of fascination Rose exuded when she was taken by something new.

“How come there are so few of them then?” Rose asked, doing the math.

“Ah. Well, the atmosphere supports human life but the food primitive to the planet has a natural anti-fertilizing effect on the eggs of the women here. Probably ninety-six percent reliable, depending on the individual woman. In essence, the planet has it’s own built in human birth control,” he smiled widely. Brilliant girl. 

“Wow. That’s amazin’, Doctor, but there must be something else to it. Why here? Why now?” she asked, knowing he was keeping something from her still. 

“Weelll, this planet has some of the most beautiful flora this side of the galaxy, Rose. And they have legends galore about most of the native species. That, combined with legendarily breathtaking sunsets, makes this a perfect destination for honeymooners.

“So now they make a living catering to newlyweds?” Rose asked. The Doctor nodded with a grin. “So... is this whole town a… spa? For honeymooners?” Rose asked in wonder.

“Yup!” he said, adorably popping the ‘p’. “It has your standard forms of entertainment… spa, movies, grindle-light dinners, and some not so standard ones as well,” he said, waggling his eyebrows suggestively. “And I’ve managed to book us rooms for a week,” he grinned, watching her reaction.

Rose shook her head. “I don’t know what to say. It’s… perfect!” she said, throwing herself into his arms.

“Then, let’s get moving, wife!” he grinned holding out his hand and waggling his fingers for her to take. 

“This is… fantastic, Doctor. I love it,” she said, rising on her tiptoes to kiss him lightly on the lips. Slipping her hand in his, they started making their way down a well-worn side path toward the town. Clearly other honeymooners had come this way before to appreciate the view. Rose grinned like a loon. ‘Honeymooners’. Ha! That was them now!

The route gradually narrowed so that they had to start walking single file. Allowing the Doctor to lead, she found she didn’t mind bringing up the rear at all, especially when it gave her the added benefit of being able admire his rather tantalizing rear. She could hear him chattering away as he lead them further down the trail, but she realized quickly that she was having trouble making out what he was saying. That was when her head began to spin. Memories of a similar situation at their reception floated through her mind as she felt the full force of her light-headedness. Allowing her hand to slip from the Doctor’s, she slowed and stopped. The aching pain she’d experienced this morning made it’s appearance once again, but this time the intensity was three-fold. Pain bloomed and settled thickly and heavily in her chest. Sucking in breaths through clenched teeth, she leaned over to brace herself on her knees. Sweat beaded on her forehead and she was finding it difficult to focus on anything but breathing in and out. In the distance she heard the Doctor’s concerned voice but couldn’t make out words. Then, finally, after what seemed like hours, the pain began to recede. The whirr of the Doctor’s sonic played in her ears as her awareness of the world around her came back. His arm was wrapped tightly around her while he studied the sonic. “... 23% lower than normal. That can’t be right,” she heard his worried voice say, still sounding far away. The whirr of the sonic filled the air again and once again he studied the readings. “Hmmm. Normal. Must be the planet’s ionosphere playing with the readings.” 

“Whew!” Rose blew out a big breath. “That was uncomfortable,” she said, rubbing her chest, trying to look more unaffected than she was. 

“Rose, what happened? Are you alright?”

“It’s the bloody heartburn,” she said, not completely sure about that premise any longer, but not wanting to worry him. “Happened this morning too, but not this bad,” she shared, gently prodding her ribs. 

“What?! Why didn’t you say something, Rose?” the Doctor said, his voice betraying his frustration. 

“Well it was just heartburn, yeah?” her own back getting up a bit. “I would’ve told you if I thought it was anything bigger than that.”

Schooling his expression, the Doctor pushed his exasperation down. It drove him mad when she didn’t tell him things… especially when she was ill. He didn’t need a repeat of her health scare in Newfoundland. “Well, promise you’ll tell me next time. Even if it seems trivial, alright? We’re travelling across the universe, Rose. You never know what sort of viral mutations we might encounter that the TARDIS hasn’t inoculated you against. And your ridiculously fragile human body is so bloody susceptible to everything…” he said, running his hand through his hair in frustration, “Just promise me, okay?”

Rose’s ire sprung up a bit at his admonishment, but she tried her best to understand where he was coming from. He was just worried for her. Still… “Look, Doctor. I promise I’ll tell you if I’m not well from now on. But you have to trust me a bit too, yeah? I’ve been in this body for a while now and I’m usually pretty sure when something is worth worrying about, okay?” she said, taking his hand. A frown was still pasted on his face as he continued to study the ground. “Okay???” she said again, tugging his hand, encouraging him to look at her.

He looked up to meet her gaze, his eyes brooding and serious. “Rose, I can’t promise anything when it comes to your safety,” he said softly. “I only have a short time with you. I’m not about to let that time become any shorter. So I’m sorry. I’m not budging on this,” he said with no hint of apology in his voice. 

Rose was taken aback by this pronouncement. What could she say to that? It was his biggest fear when it came to her. Losing her. And she couldn’t fault him for it. She’d found herself wondering what it would be like if their positions were reversed, and the prospect of spending the equivalent of only a few months with him before losing him to death made her ache. No, she would just have to accept this part of him. He deserved some assurance that she would do her best to stay with him for as long as she was able.

Finally, in deference to his need, she nodded assent. “Alright, Doctor. I promise I’ll tell you if there’s anything from now on.”

The Doctor’s face visibly relaxed with her agreement to his terms. Giving up anything would be worth seeing the relief on his face, Rose decided. 

“Well. Now that that’s settled, can we please go down there and see if they have a chemist so we can get on with our honeymoon?” she said, coyly. 

His countenance changing completely. “Sceafa here we come,” he grinned. Standing, he scooped her up in his arms, resulting in an undignified squeak on her end.

“Doctor, I think I can walk. It’s only heartburn, for heaven’s sake” she said, feeling like a child in his arms. “Besides, after those cinnamon rolls, I probably put on a stone! You’ll put your back out!” she said, wiggling to be put down. But the Doctor would have none of it, and only more firmly pulled her to his chest.

“Nonsense, Rose. Time Lord, remember? Superior biology. And besides, how often do you get to be literally swept off your feet?” he said beginning to trundle down the hill, enjoying the featherlight weight of her in his arms and the glorious scent of her interest in him filling the air.

“Oh, you’re such a caveman at heart, aren’t you?” Rose laughed, finally giving in and enjoying the ride.

“Too right,” he agreed. “And you’d do well to remember that, Ms. Tyler, or I might be inclined to drag you by the hair into the nearest cave to have my primitive way with you,” he dared. 

Surprisingly, the thought did anything but horrify her, and Rose found herself actually entertaining the idea. Not of hair torture, but the cave-shagging part. Oh… this whole… sensuality thing was going to be fun to explore, she thought, as various naughty ideas flew threw her mind. All directed at the primitive life-form currently hauling her through the remnants of forest toward their destination.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, remember when I warned you all that there would be smut involved with this fiction? Well, here it begins! Things are about to get even more complicated for our heroes, but I couldn't leave them to their fate without a bit of happiness first. :)

They arrived in Sceafa with the sun finally having set and the air starting to become quite cool. The Doctor had checked them in with the small framed humanoid female at the front desk who, once he flashed his psychic paper to confirm their identity, seemed quite thrilled to have them as guests. She looked a lot like any other human, Rose thought, except her build was definitely on the smaller end of normal for earth. She wondered if that was true for the rest of the population as well. The Doctor didn’t waste any time people watching though, before finding a shop that sold antacids. 

“Good thing we ended up here where the resident population is humanoid,” he shared. “It was a toss up between here and the pleasure planet ‘Lough’, but the population there is mainly evolved from something similar to a bovine on earth. Two stomachs. Their antacids would’ve put a hole in yours,” he said, ushering her along one of the many warmly decorated corridors to their waiting honeymoon suite. “TARDIS must’ve known about your issues, my little not-telling-her-husband-everything wife, because she’s the one who definitely nudged me into choosing here over Lough,” the Doctor said, in a bit of a reproving tone. Rose gave his hand a squeeze in a little apology, even though deep down she still thought he was being just a bit over-protective.

Finally they arrived at their door. The Doctor opened it, making room for Rose to go in first. “Umm, Doctor,” Rose said, entering and taking in the small room devoid of furniture except for two comfortable looking chairs and a number of clothes racks with robes and clothes of various colours, sizes and fabrics hanging from hangers, “not that I don’t appreciate a good sized wardrobe, but where’s the bedroom?” she asked, looking around. 

“Well, that’s part of the allure of this place, Rose. But if I tell you everything there won’t be any surprises later,” he said smiling. “But I thought first you might like to eat and then take in the sunset ceremony. What do you think?” he asked, running his hand along a row of varied coloured garments.

“Hmmm. Let’s see,” Rose said, putting her finger to her chin as if in deep deliberation. Food and a sunset?” she said, walking up to him rather seductively, “Or sex?” The last word was soft and drawn out.

The Doctor visibly swallowed.

“I think, my Doctor, we’d better quickly hunt for a bed. Cause if we don’t find one soon I might just have to take you on the floor,” she said, wrapping her arms around his neck, her eyes twinkling playfully.

The Doctor chuckled knowingly and leaned in to press a firm kiss to her lips. The scent of her want for him sent a shot of desire through him. “Rose, you minx!” he almost growled, enjoying her newfound brazenness. She had always been so careful to mask her interest in that sort of thing with him. He’d been pretty sure that in the past she’d maybe fancied him… mostly because of the glorious scent of aroused hormones emanating from her from time to time, but he was never one hundred percent sure. Humans tended to throw off hormones at the oddest times, and quite frankly, he was pretty sure he’d noticed them coming from her room when he wasn’t even there. Human attraction was still a bit of a mystery to him, but at least now he could be pretty sure her current seemingly uninhibited hormone levels were meant for him. And maybe it was just their bonding, but she practically oozed pheromones now. Well, he wasn’t about to argue with nature. And in fact, the affect they had on him was quite staggering. They were particularly… intoxicating… was the only way he could describe them. Oh, he’d felt himself responding long before now to the pull of her hormones, but since they’d bonded… well, he couldn’t remember ever feeling quite this drawn to anyone before. It made sense, though, really. This was the woman who had saved him. Kept him whole. And he wanted nothing more than to be one with her. All the time now, apparently. 

Small, insistent hands grabbed his bottom and all conscious thought flew out of his head. Leaning down, he pressed his lips to hers with distinct gusto. Rose responded with surprising intensity, standing on her tip-toes to press herself further into him while their tongues twined and danced in a primal snog. 

A small whimper of resistance escaped his wife as he gently pulled her away from him. “Rose… as much as the floor is actually looking remarkably inviting right now, there are other options here I’d very much like to show you,” he said suggestively, his eyes dark.

Another whimper escaped her, but this time the Doctor was pretty sure it was out of anticipation rather than protest. Taking her hand, he lead her out the door of their room and down the hall. Finally coming to a door marked only with picture of a feather, the Doctor slid their door key along the lock. The door clicked open and the Doctor walked through, escorting Rose along with him. She stopped in the foyer, clearly taking in the site before her. 

The room was white. All white. The walls almost shone and the floor to ceiling window wall that revealed a breathtaking view of the valley and sunset was framed with billowing soft white gauzy curtains. And in the centre, there was a four poster bed piled high with white, fluffy pillows. A plush white carpet underlined it. No other furniture adorned the room, but littered all around were white feathers. Just randomly strewn about on the floor and bed. 

“Happy honeymoon, Rose,” he said, walking up behind her, firmly taking her shoulders in his large palms and planting a soft kiss on the side of her neck. 

Rose’s head fell back against his chest, granting him better access to her soft skin, and her scent once again enveloped him. Rassilon… it almost made his knees buckle. Instead, though, he plunged one hand down the front of her top to encase her breast while he slid his tongue along her neck to her shoulder. Oh… he could even _taste_ the pheromones… they were like… nectar. 

A moan issued from the woman in front of him, making him sorely aware of the encasing material of his trousers and the pressure of her lower back against his straining front. “Oh, Gods, Rose… you’re beautiful,” he breathed, moving to pull her shirt up and over her head. 

Helping him, she reached back to unclip her bra, which he also slid off her shoulders. 

“Don’t move,” he said, backing away from her slightly. He felt a little light headed with need. All he wanted was to _take_ her. Something in the back of his mind itched to make her _his_. But that’s not what he wanted for her. He wanted her to _ache_ for him. He wasn’t about to put his apparently quite pronounced desires ahead of her pleasure. He was going to help Rose experience her sexuality in all the ways she deserved.

“I’d like to… try something with you, Rose. But if you’re not comfortable with it, just tell me, okay? Promise you’ll tell me,” he said, hoping he wasn’t going to be pushing her too much so early on in their new relationship.

“Okay,” she gasped, wondering what he was up to, but not willing to spoil the moment. 

“Okay. Close your eyes, Rose.”

She did as she was told, feeling herself actually becoming slightly moist in anticipation.

“Now, I don’t know if you remember, but part of our human ceremony involved a promise from you. It involved ‘obeying’. Do you remember, Rose?” he said, lowly.

Rose nodded, her throat drying slightly.

“Good. Well, you _will_ obey me in here, won’t you, Rose? I assure you it will be worth your while,” he promised darkly, his voice almost raspy with arousal.

A zing of lust shot through her to light squarely in her center. She nodded again.

The Doctor took a deep breath in and moaned. “You know I can tell when you’re excited, Rose. The scent is… intoxicating.”

Rose’s eyebrows shot up and her eyes opened. “You can... _smell_ me?” Oh, God. 

“Oh yes, Rose. And it’s … beyond arousing for me. Knowing you need. Knowing you’re aching. It’s… unparalleled.”

Aching was exactly what she was doing right now. Desire clawed at her, making her squirm. A rustle of cloth issued from behind her. Oh, God. He was undressing. 

“Close your eyes again, Rose, and take off your trousers,” his voice drifted from over her shoulder.

Doing as she was told, she toed off her trainers and bent to pull off her socks. Standing again, she unclasped the button of her trousers and lowered the zip. Wiggling her hips a bit more than strictly needed, she pushed the fabric down to let it fall to the floor at her feet.

Complete silence was the response to her movements, and for a moment she thought he’d actually left. Finally a deep sigh issued from in front of her. 

“Just enjoying the view,” he said lowly, acknowledging the silence. His warm breath played against her ear and she shivered. “You’re going to move with me to stand against the wall, Rose, but you’re going to keep your eyes closed” he ordered, guiding her with his hand at the small of her back. His words and his touch ignited the already significant desire she was feeling, and she drew in a sharp breath. 

With her eyes closed, walking was a true sensory journey. Soft feathers and plush carpet pressed under her feet as she was guided nearly naked across the room with the Doctor’s feather light touch on her back. His strong hands finally stopped her movement and he gently guided her to stand against a wall. But… oh, she itched to open her eyes… the wall wasn’t the hard surface she’d been expecting. Instead, as she pressed lightly on the surface behind her with her hands, she felt a soft, cushiony fabric. 

“Doctor…” she breathed, ready to ask questions, but keeping her eyes closed as promised.

“Shhh,” he instructed, and she felt his finger at her mouth, quieting her. “No talking, Rose. Just feel,” he directed, taking her wrists in his hands and raising her arms above her head. 

A thrill of anticipation ran through her at his measured control. And when the soft padded grip of what she imagined were handcuffs closed around her wrists and she heard a quiet ‘snick’ of their enclosure, she thought she might come right then. 

She heard the Doctor’s breath catch and she could have sworn she heard him actually growl. Oh, God. He could smell her. Well, there wasn’t really anything she could do about it. And it was _his_ fault anyway. 

Then, in a move Rose truly would never have anticipated, she felt the Doctor’s face fill her crotch and heard him take a very deep breath. A flood of arousal practically soaked her knickers and the Doctor then repeated his previous action, this time emphasizing his inhalation with a wet lick to the inside of her thigh. 

Her knees went weak and she unabashedly moaned, having to squeeze her eyes tightly to keep them shut. 

“Oh, Rose… you smell so… edible,” he breathed, and once again she heard him take in a deep breath before she felt his fingers hook around the sides of her knickers to yank them down her legs in one swift tug. Hands gently smoothed up her legs then to encourage them to part. Acquiescing to his soft insistence, she sucked a hissing breath in when she felt the press of his nose against her clit and the soft lap of his tongue against her aching wetness. A hum emanated from the man treating her to this barrage of sensations as if he was enjoying the most delectable meal. A feral moan escaped her on hearing it, causing him to pursue her even more fervently, his hands now gripping her legs to still her as she writhed over him. A delightful build up of brilliant energy skittered in her belly as she closed in on release. As if he could sense it, he pulled back and she groaned. “Doctor… please…”

“Please, what?” he teased, his voice low.

“Please… make me come,” she said a bit shyly, but bravely enough so she could be heard.

“Oh, you’ll come. But only when I let you, Rose. And when you do, it will be hard,” he promised.

Rose squeezed her legs together in an effort to find some relief, but the Doctor tsk-ed. “Now, now, my desperate girl. I didn’t say you could help yourself, did I?” he gently admonished before she felt a soft tickle run up the inside of her leg. She shivered.

“Keep your eyes closed, Rose. Now. Tell me what you feel,” he directed.

Allowing herself to access what little part of her brain she had left for speech, she said, “A… a feather,” she said, her voice cracking slightly.

“That’s what it is, Rose. Tell me what you _feel_.”

Rose concentrated on the soft rustle of the feather now moving up toward her hip bone. “Soft… tickles,” she said. 

“Better. I want you to keep telling me what you feel, Rose. Don’t stop, or I’ll stop. Understand?”

“Yeah,” she said hoarsely.

“Go ahead. Remember what I said,” he warned before continuing his delicious assault.

“Umm,” she started, once again trying to concentrate on the sensations she was experiencing, “oh… you’re… it’s soft, moving so softly across my stomach,” she said tentatively.

“Go on,” he encouraged.

“It feels… like rain… little soft touches all over. Ohhhh… my… it’s so gentle… it feels like such soft touches… on my breast now,” she said.

“That’s right. What about this? How does this feel?” he asked. That was when she felt one hand cup her breast and his mouth greet the other with a hard suck. “Ohhhh!” Rose moaned loudly. “That’s… that’s…” she breathed, her words trailing off, leaving her panting and groaning as he kneaded and teased her.

The Doctor stopped and pulled away. 

Rose groaned. When there was no response, she opened her eyes. He was kneeling before her, gloriously naked. His eyes were dark, but playful. “What did I say, Rose?” he asked.

Oh! “I have to keep talking?”

“Good girl,” he said, “let’s try again,” his eyes twinkled.

Closing her eyes again, she once again felt his mouth on her. “I can feel you… sucking.” He resumed his activity with deliberate attention. “Your mouth… oh, God… your mouth is so brilliant! Bloody hell, Doctor! Ummm… your hand is holding me… ahhh…. squeezing my breast… it’s so good…”

That’s when she felt his other hand cup her mound. “Ahhhh… um, you… your hand is holding me, caressing me… your whole hand is… pressing against me…” she breathed, enjoying the commanding pressure he held against her. Then she felt a probing finger, finally finding her centre. 

“You’re… your finger… ahhh… finger _s_ are inside me… oh, God…. I can… Oh, Doctor… I can feel you moving them inside me… OH! Pressing… Oh, God! Doctor! There! Right there!” she whimpered. Warm wetness pressed against the tight bundle at the top of her thighs and she yelped with surprise as she felt herself building quickly. “Oh, God! Doctor! You’re… your tongue… you’re gonna make me come! Oh, God! Oh, God!” she actually screamed out, finally, finally pulsing in a blissful, releasing orgasm.

In his rapt enjoyment of pleasuring her, the Doctor himself shuddered in premature release, but continued his delicious attentions until she twitched her last whimpering shudder. Finally, weak kneed, practically hanging from the cuffs above, Rose felt the Doctor pull back and the comparatively cool air of the room was all that was left touching her.

"Keep your eyes closed, Rose," he ordered quietly. Rose, panting, unable to do much but just hang limply from the soft bonds above, complied. The Doctor sat back now, watching Rose hang naked against the wall, her level of pheromones once again increasing as her anticipation once again mounted. Now she wanted, but not necessarily just release. She wanted him. Inside her.

The Doctor smiled and stood, pulling her limp body to his and pressing his glistening mouth to hers. The sudden pressure of his body against hers made her moan and push back against him. Oooooh, she could taste herself on him and it actually made her even more fevered.

Cracking a eye open, she said lowly, “Let me go now, Doctor? I think turn about is fair play, don’t you?” 

The Doctor’s cock twitched noticeably and Rose smiled at that. Oh, it was certainly exciting to have such power over someone who was feared and revered all across the universe. 

The Doctor smiled and reached up to release her. Finally, her arms back under her control, she gently pushed him back toward the large bed in the centre of the room. “I think it’s your turn to ‘obey’ now, Doctor,” she said, slowly gaining confidence. The Doctor allowed himself to be pushed back so that he ended up sitting on the edge of the bed. 

“I’m going to sit on you, Doctor. I’m going to have you now,” she said trying to sound a bit imposing, knowing she was utterly failing. 

The Doctor chuckled a bit. “Do your worst, Rose Tyler,” he said, lovingly amused with her attempts to be controlling.

Well, she wasn’t having any of _that_. Pushing him back so he was lying on the bed, she crawled up on him, straddling him. 

“You find me amusing, Doctor?” she asked, smiling, her eyes shining. “Is _this_ amusing?” With that, she reached down, opened herself and lowered herself on him in one hard push. 

“Gunh,” was the only sound he could mutter as he was completely enveloped in this tight, beautiful woman. Slowly, she began rising and falling on top of him, her own moisture more than accommodating the friction. 

“How about we turn this around, Doctor?” she asked, innocently. “How about _you_ tell _me_ what you’re feeling. I want to hear it, Doctor. Every sensation. I want to know what I feel like on you,” she said bravely.

More than ready to take on that challenge, given his Gods given gob, he slid easily into a running commentary. “Oh, Gods, Rose… you feel incredible. So _tight_! I’ve never… I’ve never felt anything so… perfect… you fit me perfectly, Rose…” he said, his hands grasping her waist as she rose up and down on top of him. “I want to come inside you, like I’ve never wanted anything before… you’re like… ambrosia to me, Rose. Your smell, your taste… you… Oh, Rassilon!... you’re bloody perfect, Rose… I… Ohhhh…” he stuttered, nearing completion.

“Better keep talking, Time Lord,” Rose threatened, not actually slowing. The threat, though, was enough to keep him going. 

“Oh, Gods, Rose…I need... I want you to come with me. I need to touch you..." he said snaking a hand down between them to gently start caressing her. "Nothing feels better than you around me, Rose."

Already exquisitely sensitive from her recent orgasm, Rose quickly felt herself building again. The silken sound of his voice with the accompanying sinful words were almost enough in themselves to push her over, but his next few panted words along with the insistent circling movements of his brilliant fingers were finally what sent her spiralling.

"… you’re so hot and… Jesus, Budda, and Halla… you’re… come, Rose. come hard on me…”

And with that, she came. Rhythmic spasms accompanied her almost pained release and the incomparable sensation of her muscles squeezing him all but made him regenerate, his orgasm was so intense. Rose opened her eyes in time to see the most beautiful pained expression on her Time Lord's face. That wasn't all she saw, though. All around them shone glittering light particles that were swimming animatedly in the air around them. 

Rose’s breath caught. What the hell?! The glittering orbs flew around them, dancing in the air to circle around their bodies.

“Doctor!” she exhaled in alarm. 

“Hmmm?” his eyes still closed in celebration of his achieved orgasm.

“Look!” she breathed.

The Doctor opened his eyes to admire the dancing lights. “Oh… nothing to be alarmed about. Lindos energy. Basically… regeneration particles. Harmless. Kind of… happens when a Time Lord… well, you know,” he said, as if this was a completely everyday occurrence. Well, obviously it was, to him, Rose thought.

“It’s… beautiful!” she marvelled, watching the glistening dots of light move out and away from them to slowly fade. 

The Doctor had to agree they were kind of pretty. “Yeah, I guess they are,” he agreed. “Brighter than usual today, too. They don't usually put on this much of a show,” he said, his brows furrowed, contemplating it a bit.

“Wait a minute,” Rose said, suddenly excited. “Mary! She thought there was a fire in the cabin, right? That was right after we’d...“

“Oh, yeah, right! I hadn’t thought that it might have been a bit of a surprise through the cabin window. Probably looked a bit like sparks, come to think of it.”

"Wait... but you didn't...did you???"

The Doctor grinned rather sheepishly. "I might have maybe gotten a bit overexcited. Wasn't too worried, though. Time Lord refractory period is only a minute or two," he said, rather pleased with himself.

Rose grinned and hit him playfully. “Well that explains a lot,” Rose said, remembering Mary’s terrified screams of ‘Fire!’ before bursting into the bedroom. She laughed lightly. "If Mary had only known."

“Mmmm,” the Doctor hummed in response. 

The room was dark now except for the very dim light left from the remains of the sunset outside. 

What the pair didn’t see was the awed crowd of onlookers who’d witnessed the impressive light show from outside their window. They’d originally come out to see a spectacular sunset, heralded by generations to be the most impressive in the universe. A few staff, though, aware of who they were housing that night, hadn’t been facing the sunset. Instead, they were making sure to get a good view of the floor to ceiling windows of the Doctor and Rose’s room. Others, noticing the unusual direction these watchers were facing, also turned. For their troubles, they were treated to a spectacular show of amorously inspired fireworks very rarely seen across the galaxy. All caused by the now incredibly rare joining of a Time Lord with his mate.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor and Rose learn there are more consequences to their intimacy than they even realized.

Rose woke the next morning with the sun streaming in from the floor to ceiling windows of the ‘feather room’. Turning over, she looked for the Doctor beside her, only to find him staring down at her, his head propped up on his hand.

“Morning, wife,” he said, his eyes twinkling in the brightness of the room.

“Morning,” she offered, rubbing her sleep filled eyes. “How long you been up?” she asked, figuring he’d probably been up most of the night.

“Oh, only forty-three minutes. Like I said, Rose… for some reason I’m needing a bit more sleep lately. Can’t imagine why…” he said, knowingly, leaning in to nibble on her neck.

Rose smiled, pulling her arm out from under the covers to gently push him away. “Well I’m needing to wee,” she said unceremoniously, unmoving.

Waiting for her to move, he finally said, “Ummm, shouldn’t you probably move your derriere to the loo, then?” he suggested.

“Yeah, probably. But that means I’d have to get my arse out of bed. And frankly, I’m too comfortable right now,” she said, her voice muffled by the pillow she was talking into.

“Right. Well, I’ll be more comfortable if you’re not wetting the bed, Rose Tyler, so shift,” he said, gingerly pushing her away from him.

She groaned in protest as she was shoved toward the edge of the bed. “Fine. But you’d better be here when I get back,” she threatened, swinging her legs over the edge of the bed to pad to the loo.

The Doctor lay back and relaxed, hands behind his head, looking at the ceiling for a moment. He was surely the luckiest man in the universe. The voluptuous woman currently occupying the washroom was unbelievably his. After all the heartache he’d endured, he was actually being offered some respite in the form of one Rose Tyler. He silently shook his head in amazement. He knew how broken he was, really. He also knew that Rose had taken him anyway, and that knowledge made him marvel. How is it that he’d been so lucky?

Taking a deep breath, he smiled. He was. He was lucky. And now he had a chance to pay homage to every deity he’d never really believed in to thank them for her. And he would thank them. He had to. Because there was no other reason he could think of that something so good could ever have happened to him.

It was then he heard the shower start and her voice floated through the room as she sang some tuneless song. Well, at least he knew he hadn’t married her for her singing voice, he grinned. Even her questionable musical talent had him enamoured. And horny. 

Well it clearly didn’t take much for that particular feeling to take him over. Even the warble of her tone-deaf voice made him hard. Lord… he hadn’t had sex in hundreds of years, and all of a sudden he couldn’t get enough! Rassilon… this was getting ridiculous!

Sliding out of bed, he decided to try to distract himself and check if breakfast had been provided. Part of the package had been breakfast delivered to the door in the morning, and frankly, even his biologically superior stomach was making it known he’d neglected it yesterday.

Slipping on a robe that he found folded neatly by the bed, he padded to the door and cracked it open to find not just a small offering of food. He found a mound of offerings. And not just of edibles. 

Before him lay at least six trays of food with at least fifty or sixty packages neatly stacked beside them, each neatly wrapped in a plastic-like material finished with ribbons of various colours. 

“Ha!” he smiled. Nothing like real customer service, he grinned. Behind him he heard the bathroom door open. “Rose, come see this,” he called over his shoulder.

Her soft hand touched his back before she drew a startled breath. “What’s all this?” she asked, amazed at the pile of offerings at their door.

“Spectacular benefits of psychic paper, I suppose,” he concluded. “I should look to see what it said… hope we’re not supposed to be dignitaries or ambassadors or something. I was kind of hoping to keep it quiet this trip,” he muttered, squeezing her towel covered bottom as he retreated back into the room. “Could you grab a tray of food, though, wife? I’m a bit peckish after the workout last night,” he grinned to himself, quite satisfied with a job well done.

“You think you’re so impressive, don’t you?” she said, giggling a bit as she leaned to pick up a tray. 

“You know I am,” he said waggling his eyebrows at her as she approached with the tray.

“Well, I can’t argue with that,” she acquiesced, giving him her trademark tongue in teeth grin. There was no arguing that she’d never been so turned on in her life. Memories of the Doctor kneeling before her, completely naked, played in her mind making her feel a bit… hmmm. The Doctor grinned back. Cheeky man. He knew. Again!

“Ummm, Rose… care to share your thoughts with the class?” he grinned sexily, now sitting with the psychic paper in hand and patting the bed beside him.

Rolling her eyes, she moved to the bed with the tray of food. “Honestly, Doctor… you really are insatiable! I love it!” she grinned, swooping in for a kiss as she moved to sit beside him with the tray. Putting it on the bed, she began divvying up some of the food. 

“Hmmm,” she heard from her Time Lord, currently reviewing the psychic paper he’d dug out of his jacket. “Says we’re just Dr. and Mrs. Ucus. Not dignitaries or anything. Weird name, though,” he said, trying to think of anything it might be related to. His rather significant brain came up blank. “Well, maybe it’s just fantastic service,” he said, doubtful. 

Rose nodded and made a muffled sound in response, a bready piece of foodstuff already finding it’s way into her mouth. Chewing a bit, she made an appreciative sound. “Mmmmm, SO good! Doctor… you’re going to love this!” 

Putting aside the niggling wonder at the rather excessive gifts, the Doctor reached for the plate Rose had organized for him. Digging in, he nodded his agreement of her assessment. “Bananik bread! I’d almost forgotten how fantastic it is. Bananik tastes quite a bit like it’s earth cousin, doesn’t it? Mmmmm. Bananas. Wonder of nature,” he sighed. Rose smiled at yet another quirk of her Time Lord that she loved. They sat on the bed for the next few minutes in comfortable silence, contentedly finishing only a portion of their significant breakfast. The Doctor, finishing first, stood and stretched.

“What do you think, Rose? Should we check out the local flora? There are trails around that feature some incredible plants and flowers. One of them, the Beothaia, is actually a lone flowering plant that the locals believe has magical properties. It emerges from the dirt for one hour a year. Worshipped by the locals. Quite incredible to witness, really. Big ol’ ceremony to commemorate it. Course, we’d have to wait a couple of days for that. That’s okay, I suppose. We’ll be here anyhow. What do you say?” he asked, moving to his discarded clothing lying on the floor near the door. 

Pulling his trousers up and zipping them closed, he waited for a response. “Rose?” he finally asked, turning back toward the bed.

What he saw scared the remaining lives out of him. Rose lay on the bed, clutching her chest with both hands, her face scrunched up in pain, her breath coming out in pants. He moved before he even realized he had and reached the bed within moments. Small pained sounds escaped Rose as she lay, unable to move, in the centre of the bed.

“Rose!” he exclaimed, pulling out his sonic. “Gods, Rose!” he said scanning her quickly. The readings were once again off the charts, but didn’t help him narrow in on the reason for them. 

“Huh! Hunh!” she panted, still clutching at her chest, her eyes flying open and glomming on to his. 

Panic spread through him. The TARDIS was miles away and there was nothing on this planet he trusted enough to accurately diagnose what was wrong with her. Ideas flew through his mind about how he could appropriately address what was happening in front of him. But within a few moments Rose’s symptoms subsided enough that she could talk to him, and breath finally found his own lungs.

“Doctor,” she whispered, as her lungs expelled the little she had left in them before drawing in more. “I… I…”

“Shhh,” he instructed, smoothing her hair, as he once again took readings with his sonic. Most of her readings were returning to normal once again. The only reading showing below normal were her O2 sats. Definitely low for a human but better than they were a moment ago.

A rush of breath escaped the woman lying under his concerned gaze. “Whew!” she gasped, finally and happily able to draw more breath. “That was…” she exhaled a large breath, “ouch,” she concluded. 

“Rose… what happened,” he asked, insistent on an answer.

“I… it was… my chest.,” she answered, her hand rubbing along her sternum. “I don’t think it was heartburn after all,” she said, a bit apologetically.

Gesturing for her to lower the towel she was wrapped in, she did so, knowing he wouldn’t find anything he could just see with his bare eyes. Mind you, he was a Time Lord. Maybe he could see something she couldn’t. He leaned in, then, putting his ear to her bare chest. 

“How are you feeling now, Rose?” he asked seriously.

“Ummm, a bit… well… Doctor… it’s hard to concentrate with your ear on my breast,” she said, feeling herself flush a bit.

“Oh. Sorry,” he sat up, apologizing, too focused on her health to appreciate the effect he had on her. 

“Um, my chest feels heavy again… like it did after this happened last time. Bit more winded than yesterday, though,” she said, covering herself up again and trying to take stock. “Got a bit of a headache as well,” she admitted. She had promised to tell him everything from now on, as much as she thought some things probably weren’t worth mentioning. 

Finally, after a minute of watching the Doctor’s handsome visage screwed up in concentration, she asked, “Well? Any ideas? ‘M I gonna need some of that… bovine antacid after all?” she joked, trying to lighten the mood.

His brows still furrowed, the Doctor answered, “Well, we can definitely rule out digestive issues altogether, Rose. In fact, it looks more like something to do with your pulmonary system.” Still concentrating, he seemed to come to some sort of conclusion. “Okay, I’m heading back to the TARDIS,” he said, decided. Pushing away from her, he stood beside the bed and gently pushed her back down when she attempted to get up. “Stay here. I want you to just lie quietly for a bit until I get back. It’ll only be a minute or two for you,” he assured her. “We’ll get you into the infirmary where I can do some proper tests. We need to find out what’s going on with you,” he said, bending over and pressing a kiss to her forehead. 

Actually frightened with the intensity of the ‘attack’ as she finally admitted it was, she nodded her agreement to his plan. “Okay. Just… be careful, yeah? You’re rubbish without me,” she said, smiling lightly. 

“Too right,” he agreed. “I will be. Not rubbish. Careful, I mean,” he winked at her. 

Exiting the room, the Doctor made his way past the pile of leavings at the door and started down the hall. Excited whispers greeted him as he neared the first bend in the corridor. Rounding the corner he was stopped short. Literally hundreds of people crowded the narrow hallway and stood facing him, blocking his exit. 

“Ummm… right. I, uh, just need to… excuse me,” he said, trying to push his way past the first few people politely. The Doctor had to admit he wasn’t terribly surprised to find they were utterly unmovable, though they were extremely grabby. Many were reaching to touch him as he tried to squeeze by. It was all getting more than slightly claustrophobic. This was definitely looking not good. Very not good, in fact.

Suddenly a few voices drifted over the crowd as they closed in around him. “Thaia! Thaia!” they repeated, over and over. More and more voices joined in until the throng of people around and in front of him were chanting the word enthusiastically and repeatedly. A few people close to him began kneeling, while they chanted, their arms and hands creating rolling waves in front of them, pulling excitedly at his clothes. Rassilon… were some of them crying???

Spectacularly not good. So much for low key.

Smiling and nodding at the enthusiastic worshippers, he pulled himself back and away from the crowd until he reached the corner again. Then, turning, he retreated quickly to the room they’d spent the night in.

“Wow, that was fast,” Rose said, still lying dutifully on the bed as he entered the room again.

“Yeah, weellll… it seems we’ve got a bit of a problem,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck. “Funny thing, really,” he said, trying to keep it light, “seems the locals have decided that, uh, I’m… we’re… oh, who knows. Prophets? Gods? I can’t tell. What I can tell is that they appeared a bit enamoured with me and weren’t keen on letting me leave. So!” he barked manically, rubbing his hands together, “looks like I’ll have to find an alternative way out, yeah?”

Moving to the windows the Doctor checked out their soundness. “Thick and solid,” he concluded, frowning. 

Rose giggled. “Sounds a lot like something else I recently encountered in this very room, in fact,” Rose said, standing and moving behind him to slide her hands around his middle playfully. 

“Rose Tyler! You really are a minx!” he said, giving her a big grin. “This is serious! Now I need to find a way back to the TARDIS,” he said, covering her arms, still wrapped around his middle, with his. “Help me think of something instead of coming up with more ways to get into my pants,” he chided.

Sighing dramatically, she said, “Doctor, couldn’t we just call the front desk? Surely they can get the group to move?” Rose reasoned.

“Fantastic, Rose!” he said, removing her arms from around his waist to run to the room phone. Pressing the equivalent of ‘0’, he waited for a moment before saying, “Yes, hello? This is Doctor...uh, Ucus. My wife and I…” he paused, listening. “Oh. I see. But…” more pausing. “Ah. Right. Now… I can explain…” Pause. “Well, we’re honoured. Honestly. But I’m wondering if you could possibly just ask them to let me by. I have to retrieve something I’ve left…” Pause. “No, I’m sorry. We can’t wait that long.” More talking apparently emanated from the other end of the line. The Doctor sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. 

Through all this Rose felt his anxiety build. The conversation was apparently not going as he’d hoped. “Look. I appreciate the significance of the timing. I do. But if you’d just let me explain…” He paused again, listening. “Yes, bu…” Pause. “I know, but that’s becau…” Pause. Finally the Doctor lost his patience. “Look! I’m trying to tell you! There’s been a misunderstanding!” he shouted into the phone. “Now, I have to leave. Can you please… Hello? Hello!” the Doctor held the phone out at arms length and stared at it incredulously. “She hung up on me!” he said, exasperated. 

“What did she say,” Rose asked.

“Weelll, apparently, it seems…” the Doctor rubbed the back of his neck, “um… actually, it’s kind of humorous,” he said a bit sheepishly. “It seems… well, you remember the sunset last night? The one everyone was outside watching? Well, it turns out, some folks might’ve…” he swallowed, “...seen a bit of a different lightshow,” he said, looking guilty.

Rose stared at him, obviously not quite getting it.

“Rose, I’m told quite a few people saw the, um, Lindos energy. From last night. When we…” he waggled his eyebrows in lieu of using the word.

Realization dawned on Rose’s face. “Oh my God,” she said, feeling a spectacular blush coming on. “They… could see us!” she squeaked.

“NO! No, Rose… it was dark in the room. The, admittedly rather see-through, curtains were drawn. I’m sure no one saw… details. But the Lindos energy must’ve been bright enough to draw their attention. Anyway… you may recall my telling you about the Beothaia plant? It seems the locals think… well, they see the plant as sacred, you see… and… funny this… legend has it that it, um, when it was first seen it emitted holy light. And since we emitted light, kinda like the plant…” He let the comment hang in the air.

Rose stared at him. “So they think we’re sacred or something?”

“Actually,” he said, studying his shoes, “they seem to think we’re going to make it emit light again. Remember the ceremony I told you about? Well, it seems we’re to be the guests of honour. Our presence there will apparently inspire it to generate light again.”

“Fan-bloody-tastic,” Rose rolled her eyes, plopping herself back on the bed. “No pressure, then! The stupid plant hasn’t emitted light since, when? Since their ‘biblical times’? And somehow we’re supposed to be Derren Brown or something and just make it happen?”

The Doctor ran his hand through his hair. “Apparently. But it’s all moot anyway. We’ll be gone by then. I’m getting you out of here today.”

Rose sighed. “Look, Doctor, I’m sure I’ll be fine until after this… ceremony. I’ll just take it easy. Shouldn’t be too difficult,” she said bravely. Trying to look nonchalant, she lay back and stretched out to put her hands behind her head.

“We’ll do not such thing, Rose Tyler. I’m not taking any chances with your health. I told you that. No. I’m getting you out of here,” he assured her, moving back to the window. Holding up the sonic, he shifted the settings and held it up. “Climb under the duvet, Rose,” he directed. 

Rose clamoured under the blankets and covered her ears with her hands. She'd experienced sonic inspired blasts before, and her eardrums never appreciated them. 

The Doctor aimed the sonic at the large glass pane in front of him. He’d put off trying to shatter the glass until now, as he’d hoped only to have to do so as a last resort. But it looked like it was the best option left if the locals wouldn't listen to reason. Nothing was going to keep him from making sure Rose was okay. 

After another moment to give Rose ample time to prepare, he activated the multipurpose tool in his hand. Eyes squeezed tightly sit against flying glass, he let the sonic run for a full minute before he finally turned it off and opened his eyes. Nothing. No effect on the glass at all.

Brows furrowed, he changed the setting on the sonic and used it to evaluate the make-up of the glass. Studying the results, his frown deepened. It was reinforced with resonance sheeting. There was no way out of here.

“You can come out, Rose,” he said, stuffing the sonic back in his pocket. “I’m going to have to try something else. That obviously didn’t work,” he said, deflated.

Damnit. These people had to let him leave. They had to. He had a very bad feeling about Rose’s condition, though he hadn’t wanted to say anything like that to Rose herself. Last thing he needed was to alarm her even more. The low O2 saturation, the headache, the chest pain… it could be one of thirty-seven possible problems he could think of; twenty of which were minor and easily treated, nine were serious enough to warrant the need for more intensive intervention, and eight of which were fatal to humans. The odds were in her favour, but he surely wasn’t about to test which category this particular ailment fell under.

"Well now what? " Rose asked, coming out from under the sheets, her hand pressed against her chest and her voice a bit breathy. It was obviously bothering her again. The Doctor's anxiety level Rose another notch. 

“I’m going to look for another way out. I’ll be back soon, Rose. Save some Bananik for me for later,” he said, putting on a grin for her benefit before exiting the room again.

Standing in front of the door, he considered his options. He could just try the other rooms in this hallway to see if any had possible exits. Very unlikely, but perhaps worth a try. No. He would go back and try to reason with these people. Surely they didn’t want one of their sacred deities dying, did they? 

Striding purposefully forward, he rounded the corner again to find the hoards still gathered. For a moment he wondered why they hadn’t gathered closer to their room. Mustn’t be too concerned about them escaping through any of the other rooms then, he mused. The lot of them seemed to be just a bit more than excited to see him round the corner. They seemed downright… expectant. Well, whatever they were thinking, he had to talk some sense into them. 

Gathering his considerable wits, he pulled himself up to his full height and donned his best ‘Oncoming Storm’ look. “Right.” he boomed. “I know you believe that my wife and I are… holy. But we’re just a simple couple trying to enjoy our honeymoon.”

A few people laughed and squealed in excitement and a handful even clapped. 

Their reaction had him flummoxed. He tried again. “I have to return to my ship,”

To his mighty surprise, the whole lot of them echoed his sentence. “I have to return to my ship.”

“What?!” he exclaimed in wonder.

“What?” they repeated.

The next sentences they said were in perfect synchronicity with his, so together they sounded like some ridiculous chorus from a Greek tragedy.

“Listen, people! My wife is very ill! I need to get to my ship to find out what’s wrong with her. Stop that! Stop, I said!” the Doctor yelled, with the crowd chanting along.

He stopped. So did they. This was… incredible. He tried again.

“Let me get by! Please! She’s… she’s in danger. Please!!!” he heard himself beg in harmony with at least a hundred other voices.

This was incredibly frustrating. And fruitless. They weren’t hearing him. Running both his hands through his hair in frustration, he actually thought he might cry, of all things. The idea that Rose might be in real danger and that he might truly not be able to do anything about it had him reeling. He wanted to grab the nearest person in the crowd and literally shake them until he was really heard. His reason for living… the only being in this universe who made him truly happy… was being threatened. 

In the throws of his angst, a little boy, maybe four years old in human years, squeezed between the legs of some of the adults at the front of the crowd and stood in front of him, looking up with wide, blue eyes.

To say this development was unexpected was a massive understatement, though by now you’d think he’d learn that the expected rarely happened. Gathering himself together to reign in his almost overwhelming anxiety at this situation, he kneeled so he was face to face with the youngster. Not sure what to say, exactly, he just found himself looking at the boy with his mouth slightly agape. 

“Thank-you,” the child said, earnestly.

“Um, for what?” the Doctor asked, incredulously.

“For staying. It’s very important,” he said in his young voice.

The Doctor’s jaw clenched with the effort it was taking him to hold back his rising panic. “What’s your name?” he asked.

“Riffen,” the boy answered.

“Riffen, my wife is sick. She might be very sick. I have to help her. Do you understand?” he almost entreated.

“It’s… necessary,” he said, as if he’d memorized the word. 

Standing, his body taking over for his rational mind, he grabbed his hair with both hands and spun in a frustrated circle, trying to regain control. He lost.

“LET ME THROUGH!” he shouted, radiating pure anger.

The people close enough to get a good look at his expression actually shrunk back, cowering, obviously afraid of their deity’s rage.

Awareness of their fear permeated his frustration, but he didn’t care. He needed to get to the TARDIS. It wasn’t until he heard whimpers from beneath him that he realized the little boy was actually crouched at his feet, trembling and crying.

His hearts sunk. He needed to help Rose, but was he really this? A living nightmare to small children?

Kneeling in front of the boy, he said, just so the boy could hear, “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. I just… I don’t want to scare you… I just need to help my wife.” The boy peeked up through his fringe of blonde hair, but continued to cower. Patting the boy’s back, he stood again. Surveying the now quietened crowd, he actually thought he felt his universe crumbling. It appeared that they were truly stuck.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to my brilliant readers who have taken a moment to fave or comment! I'm ever so very grateful! :)

The Doctor stalked back to the room to find Rose still lying on the bed.

“Well?” she asked, apprehensively. “Any luck?”

When the Doctor met her eyes, she drew a breath. He looked almost menacing. Even to her.

“They won’t listen, Rose,” he said, starting to pace.

“Okay,” she said, watching him move like a caged lion. “What exactly happened out there?”

The Doctor ran his hands through his hair again. It was beginning to look like he felt. “They were just… standing in the hall. When I tried to explain… they… well, honestly, Rose… you wouldn’t have believed it if you’d been there. Suffice to say; even I was sufficiently gobsmacked. And then there was a little boy, and… I blew up at them… and they just… Aaaaaaah!” he shouted in remembered frustration.

“Whoa! Doctor, deep breath, yeah?” she said, moving to guide him to sit on the side of the bed with her. 

“I’m sorry, Rose. I just… they wouldn’t listen. I just… need to make sure you’re okay,” he said, looking into her eyes for reassurance, knowing it was ridiculous to do so. 

“Hey. I’m gonna be fine. I finally got lucky with a Time Lord and I’m not about to kick it before I get in at least forty more years of similar activity. Got it?” she said, cupping his face, giving him a big smile.

He nodded, leaning his forehead on hers. The warmth of her skin on his reassured and grounded him. He needed to focus, not get completely lost in worry. It seemed all his mental discipline went out the window when it came to this little human.

“Right,” he stated, before standing and taking Rose’s hand. “It seems they aren’t too worried about us exploring the other rooms in this corridor, so lets go see if any of them offer us a way out they hadn’t considered, eh?” he said, forcing positivity a bit, hoping that if he did so he might actually feel it.

“Sounds good,” Rose said, standing, sneaking her free hand up to press against her sternum. She was obviously trying not to wince. It didn’t escape the Doctor’s notice that she was short of breath as well. Stay calm, he told himself, leading her to the door. He needed to stay focused.

Encouraging Rose to follow him across the hall, they stopped in front of the door opposite the room they’d spent last night in. The sign on the door was a picture of a book. Despite the situation, her pained chest and the Doctor’s clearly distraught mood, she couldn’t help but wonder about the room’s contents. A classroom? Hmmm. Naughty schoolgirl might be fun. She pictured the Doctor in his brainy specs, maybe with a ruler…

“Ahem,” the Doctor cleared his throat, looking at her with his eyebrows raised. Rose felt herself blush. Damn it! Caught again. Deciding to just go with it, she grinned. “What?” she said innocently, tucking her tongue between her teeth. 

“Rose Tyler… please concentrate! You’re… incredibly distracting when you… think!” he said, his eyes growing dark.

The look on his face made excitement pool low in her belly. 

The Doctor made a low, throaty sound in response. 

Her body’s reaction was immediate and wet. Oh, God…

The Doctor raked his eyes up and down the now robe clad form of his mate. Really he should have thought to make sure she put on her clothes before letting her traipse around the building. She was just so… accessible this way. NO. Concentrate! he admonished himself. For Rassilon’s sake! Rose could be in serious trouble if he didn’t figure out a way out of here!

The thought sobered him. Turning to the door, he fumbled for the room key card in his pocket and ran it through the lock. The door clicked open and he ushered Rose in, closing the door behind them. 

The Doctor swallowed. Definitely a ‘Doctor-centric’ fantasy play space, this.

The room before them was, essentially, a library. In front of them, were several rows of shelves filled with books of various widths and heights. A study carroll of sorts was set up topped with open books and a couple pairs of glasses. Against it, Rose couldn’t help but notice, was propped a yard stick. A comfortable looking, large bed with a book themed duvet cover sat off to the side of the room. It looked incredibly inviting, nestled between rows of old, worn textbooks and paperbacks, but it was clearly not the feature of the room. The highlight of the space, standing on its own in the middle of the room, was a work table with books piled on top of it. But it wasn’t the books that were of interest. The most intriguing part was that the tabletop appeared to be cushioned and covered in leather, and hanging from the side of the table were shackles. 

Within moments the Doctor was overwhelmed with the overpowering scent of Rose erupting from beside him. His rational mind clouded, swimming in the pheromones surrounding him. He heard a sound escape his own throat. It sounded… feral. He heard, and felt, Rose draw a sharp breath as he turned and grabbed her by her upper arms and pulled her quite forcefully to himself. The action itself seemed to result in another flood of chemical assault on his system, with Rose’s body releasing yet another cloud of overpowering intoxicant. 

All self control left him. Pushing his needy lips to hers, he advanced them both to the side of the work table and actually growled as he nudged her up against it.

Despite Rose’s discomfort, she found herself responding. And not just a bit. An encompassing lust filled her as the Doctor ran his hands up to her collar and pulled her robe forcefully from her shoulders. She threw her head back, moaning as the Doctor assaulted her neck with biting kisses, trailing down to her collarbone to end in a punishing suck that would surely leave a mark. A sharp nip to her shoulder made her squeak, and he responded by manhandling her onto the leather clad surface, dislodging some books from it’s top to fall to the ground in the process. Rose grunted when a book dug into her bottom as she was dropped on top of it. Dislodging it, Rose threw it aside before reaching around him to grasp his bottom. Fevered, frantic groping followed for both parties and through it Rose somehow managed to get the Doctor’s trousers and pants down around his ankles. It was when her brilliant hand cupped him, however, that he lost any semblance of control he had left. Pulling back from her to swipe the remaining books from the table, he almost roughly pushed her back to lie down before climbing on top of her. 

Rose’s lust doped gaze found the Doctor’s and there was nothing but pure unveiled hunger there. She never felt so possessed by anyone in her life. 

It was then he entered her. There was no further preamble. Rose’s breath caught with the intrusion; both thrilling and overwhelming at the same time. 

The table beneath them squeaked a bit with their fevered movements as the Doctor filled Rose over and over again, his eyes unfocused and his body taut and insistent. Biting her lip and moaning with the punishing movement, Rose found herself unexpectedly climbing toward release just from his repeated pressure against and inside her. She squeezed her eyes shut as coiling electric energy zinged through her until the familiar pulsing of her muscles sent pleasure flowing in every direction.

“What?!” she heard the Doctor exclaim above her, just before letting out a strangled groan, his body shuddering in the vestiges of his climax. 

Rose smiled. ’What?’ seemed a rather unusual exclamation during sex, she thought, but then, this was the Doctor. She loved every unusual bit about him. Then, opening her eyes, she realized he’d not been commenting on the remarkable pleasure he was experiencing… rather he was looking around them at the twinkling lights of energy he’d expelled. 

“What?” Rose asked, a bit worried. 

“My Gods, Rose! What…” he said, his jaw hanging open clearly studying the little orbs of flickering light surrounding them.

“What is it, Doctor?” she said, growing more alarmed. “You said it was normal for a Time Lord to… light up the room when he… felt fantastic.” 

“It is, Rose,” he said quietly. “But these… this isn’t,” he swallowed, “... this Lindos energy wasn’t expelled by me.”

It was Rose’s turn to look incredulous. “What do you mean? Where did it come from?” she said, now also studying the brilliant twinkling beams flying around them.

The Doctor pulled out and rolled off of her, leaving Rose cold and uncovered in the cool air of the room. “It came from you, Rose,” the Doctor said, looking down at her, his face full of concern. 

“What?!” it was Rose’s turn to exclaim. “Me? Why?” she said, her voice high and squeaky.

The Doctor sat up and ran his hand through his hair, thinking. Rose left him alone for a moment, knowing he would talk to her when he had some semblance of an answer she might understand. 

She was rewarded when he finally said, “I think… I think I know what’s going on.” When he didn’t continue, Rose sat up so she was facing him. Unfortunately, the movement seemed to kill the short lived, sex induced respite from the pain in her chest, and this time there was no doubt that a headache was blooming along with it. Instinctively sliding her hand up to rub her temple, she regretted the movement instantly. 

The touch of her hand to her forehead ignited a fiery pain that surged across the expanse of her skin starting at the point where her hand contacted her temple and rippling outward to burn around the skin of her face. The prickling fire reached under her hair along her scalp and then radiated down and around her body in a fierce wave of pain. Every cell in her skin screamed as if it was alight.

Rose’s mouth opened in a silent scream as her exposed skin pinkened right in front of the Doctor’s eyes. Reaching out, he placed his hand on her arm and the silent scream suddenly became audible, filling the room with a wail of agony.

The Doctor jumped back, absolutely startled. What the hell was happening? “ROSE!” he shouted, for once at a complete loss as to what he should do. 

The agony seemed endless as Rose watched the Doctor through a haze of pain. She could see he was shouting, but what he was saying, she couldn’t tell. Oh, God… she couldn’t breathe! She was on fire and she couldn’t breathe! Pain and panic and desperation filled every millisecond as the world around her started to close in and go dark. She felt her body slump to the side, reinventing the word ‘pain’ for her once again as her skin contacted the leather surface beneath her.

The Doctor’s shadow passed above her over and over and she thanked every instinct in the Time Lord’s body, because he seemed to know not to touch her again. 

Then, just as she was sure her body was going to turn itself off, the pain began to subside. Moment by moment, the angry pinching torment knawing at the very nerves on the surface of her body became less and less intense. Breathing slowly became easier as well, and the pounding headache also started to abate. 

Slowly, the Doctor’s worried voice filtered through the thinning veil of pain, until she was able to make out his words clearly. 

Seeing she was becoming more lucid again, the Doctor called to her more softly, his eyes filled with worry. “Rose, can you hear me? Talk to me, Rose."

Taking in a deep, thankful breath and releasing it before answering, Rose found her voice and sighed, “Doctor… God…”

The Doctor smiled in relief. “You can just call me Doctor, Rose. No need for the title as well,” he said lightly, chancing a soothing kiss to her forehead. 

A small smile blossomed on her lips at his joke, even as she winced in anticipation of pain with the touch of his lips to her skin. Blessedly, the contact only caused her skin to tingle.

“Doctor,” she said, sobering, “what’s happening to me?” Fear made her voice shake a little, sending sparks of pain straight through the Doctor’s hearts.

Looking up at her, his lips pressed into a thin line as he tried not to let his emotions get the best of him. “I think the Lindos energy I emit...” He stopped and looked deep into her eyes, as if looking for something more than black pupils and hazel irises. “I think that when… when you saved me, and I regenerated… when you were Bad Wolf… that there was some part of the vortex that remained when I took it from you. I thought… I mean, I knew it could happen, but when I didn’t see anything different in you afterward, I just thought…” he trailed off.

“Thought what, Doctor?” she said, now truly getting anxious.

“I thought you were safe,” he choked, tears again threatening to fall. 

His fear and pain burned through her. “From what?” she said, deeply afraid of his answer.

“From me.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The gravity of the situation starts to hit home for both of them…

Looking up at her, his lips pressed into a thin line as he tried not to let his emotions get the best of him. “I think the Lindos energy I emit...” He stopped and looked deep into her eyes, as if looking for something more than black pupils and hazel irises. “I think that when… when you saved me, and I regenerated… when you were Bad Wolf… that there was some part of the vortex that remained when I took it from you. I thought… I mean, I knew it could happen, but when I didn’t see anything different in you afterward, I just thought…” he trailed off.

“Thought what, Doctor?” she said, now truly getting anxious.

“I thought you were safe,” he choked, tears again threatening to fall. 

His fear and pain burned through her. “From what?” she said, deeply afraid of his answer.

“From me.”

Rose couldn’t understand what she was hearing. “What do you mean, you thought I was safe from you? You were the one who saved me from the vortex,” she said, confused.

“I did! … I mean, I tried! I just, I guess I wasn’t able to get it all. There couldn’t have been much left in your system though… I would’ve detected it before. But… it doesn’t matter now. We’ve… and now I’ve hurt you,” he said, standing before her, completely distraught and vulnerable.

“Hey… listen. Whatever’s happening to me is not your fault, yeah? And how could it be your fault? You were saving me. I would’ve died without you. Now stop blaming yourself. We’re in this together, Doctor. And I need you here with me now. I can’t have your head stuck in the past blaming yourself for something you couldn’t anticipate. Please, Doctor. Please?” she said, taking his hand.

Looking at her unwavering gaze was enough to make him acquiesce for now. There would be time for self-recrimination later. Right now he had to save his bond mate. Though how, exactly, he was going to do that, he wasn’t sure.

Rose’s soft voice broke through his reverie. “Now can you explain what’s going on? In ape terms?”

The Doctor allowed himself a small smirk at the label… one he’d been so flippant about using a lifetime ago… and stood facing her for a moment. Then, as if resigned to an explanation, he started dressing while trying to put his thoughts into words. “I think that when you looked into the heart of the TARDIS, some of that energy got trapped within you somehow. Probably at an intergenetic level. And when we… I… share my TNA with you, it somehow activates it, causing you to create Lindos energy that gets produced by your cells when you… climax.”

Rose thought about that for a moment. “But… well, I understand how you shared your D… I mean, TNA with me just now… and last night. But what about Newfoundland? We… you didn’t… we didn’t actually have sex?” she said, a bit bashfully, remembering the heated encounter resulting in one of the most powerful orgasms she’d ever had. 

“Oh, well… um, I didn’t… that is to say… um, saliva has TNA in it as well,” he finished, pinkening a bit. 

His pronouncement resulted in a flush that spread up to her cheeks as well. Funny… he’d had his face buried in her crotch for heaven’s sake, and they still couldn’t talk about sex without blushing. It was a pretty blush-worthy moment, though, she mused, indulging a bit of arousing reminiscence.

The room had grown quiet. Rose, eventually noticing this after being lost in the delicious memory for a few moments, finally looked up to find the Doctor’s eye’s dark and hooded. “Doctor?” she said, a bit disturbed by his expression. The Doctor shook his head. The heated look in his eyes dissipated a bit. “Doctor?” she tried again. 

The Doctor took a deep breath and closed his eyes in concentration. Finally, after a few moments he opened them again and they seemed to be more alert. Then, as if a virtual light bulb popped up over his head, he groaned in understanding. “Gods, Rose… I just realized… the Lindos energy you’re emitting… it’s amplifying your pheromones. You’re… you’re like … a walking sex beacon to me right now! Every time you even think about sex your body releases more hormones into the air and in my newly bonded state… I’m practically your… sex slave! HA!” he barked in triumph, thrilled to have sorted out why he was so bloody out of control. 

Rose, however, looked downright hurt. Well that wasn’t the response he’d been expecting to his brilliance. “What? What’s wrong, Rose?” he asked, sitting beside her.

Rose blushed, looking down at her hands. “I, um… so, you’ve… wanted me because I’m basically just sex on legs to you right now?”

The Doctor groaned inwardly. It was definitely not the message he’d meant to convey. “No, Rose,” he said, reaching out his hand to tuck a stray tendril of hair behind her ear. “I want you because I love you. And you’re incredibly attractive… and…” he paused, trying to think of how to make her understand. “Remember in Newfoundland, when I first kissed you?” he said. She nodded. “Rose… you have no idea how much will power it took not to just rip that bodice off of you right then. Lindos energy or not, I’ve wanted you for a very long time.” 

A little smile played on Rose’s lips. “Yeah?” she said, a bit shyly.

“Yes, Rose Tyler. What I mean when I talk about the effects of the Lindos energy is… well, I’ve found myself quite a bit less in control of my… responses lately. Usually I’m able to at least keep my pants on for a minute of two when I sense you’re… interested. But now… Gods, Rose… I can truly barely stop from jumping you whenever you think about, well, anything even remotely sexual that might… make your body respond. At all. 

Rose actually preened a bit at the thought. Once again, the idea of having power over this incredible man made her pause. 

And made him groan.

Oops. “Sorry,” she said, a bit sheepishly, watching him actually hold his breath. Oh… he was using his respiratory bypass. She felt guilt wash over her. He was trying to control himself and she really wasn’t helping. “I’m sorry, Doctor,” she said again. “I’ll try to, um, control myself a bit. It’s just… this is all new to me, and well, it’s… you’re…” she petered off, realizing she’d done it again. The Doctor had chanced a breath, but it had been a bad idea. Rose wasn’t sure, but she thought she actually saw his pupils enlarge as he stood stock still, his hands clenching and unclenching at his sides. Finally, with guilt once again overpowering any naughty thoughts she’d been having, the Doctor’s expression relaxed. He let out a huff of air and shook out his tense shoulders. 

“I’m sorry, Rose… I can’t… it’s really becoming quite uncomfortable to fight it now,” he apologized, feeling completely inadequate. Not only could he not get her out of here to the safety of the TARDIS, he could barely even control himself in her presence. What kind of rubbish husband was he turning out to be?!

Sensing the familiar visage of guilt he wore a lot during this trip, Rose sighed. “Doctor, you’re doing it again.”

“What?” he said, surprised.

“You’re being hard on yourself. Stop! None of this is your fault. Together, remember? For better, for worse… all that? No blame, okay?” she entreated, needing him to be alright. “If anything, I should feel bad about all this.”

The Doctor looked up, confused. “What do you mean? You’re not to blame for this, Rose. You couldn’t have known that you had the energy of the vortex hiding in you. I should’ve realized that it was a possibility.”

“But you didn’t know your TNA would do something to it, did you?” Rose asked.

“Well, no… not exactly,” he reluctantly agreed.

“Then please stop blaming yourself, Doctor. We could spend all day blaming ourselves for everything but it doesn’t solve the problem. And it doesn’t make us better together, does it?” she reasoned.

The Doctor considered her words and realized his self recrimination really wasn’t helping at the moment. Always so brilliant, his little pink and yellow girl. “You’re right, Rose. I need to focus. Let’s just think this out, yeah?” he said, perking up a bit.

“Right,” she agreed. “Well, I don’t see any way out of this place in this room, do you?” she said, hoping to get him distracted.

He nodded. While the room was very… comfortable… it definitely wasn’t escape friendly. “Nope. Not looking good from that angle. There are a few more rooms along this corridor… I think we’re probably looking at similar escape options in those as well, though it couldn’t hurt to look.”

“Then let’s go,” Rose said, gingerly shifting to tentatively dangle her legs over the side of the table. 

“Whoa!” the Doctor warned, immediately stopping her. “You’re not going anywhere, Rose. No way. Nuh-uh. You are, in fact, doing the opposite of coming with me. You’re staying right here,” he said, his tone broaching no argument. 

Sadly, for him, his tone meant little to one stubborn as hell Rose Tyler. Sliding off the table, she stood unsteadily for a moment. 

“Rose!” he admonished, “Sit. Down.”

Normally his bossy tone held no interest for her, but this time, the underlying fear in his voice paired with the new slowly developing pain in both of her sides made her pause.

“Please, Rose.” He sounded defeated. There was nothing she loathed more in the universe than hearing that in his voice. 

“Alright,” she reluctantly agreed. 

“Good,” he sighed, his relief evident. Helping her over to the very comfortable looking bed, he helped her settle into it and covered her with the duvet. 

“I’ll be right back, okay?” he said, kissing her forehead. He was about to get up, when he sat back down and turned to face her again, remembering something he had needed to tell her. “Rose… I really don’t think we should, um, make love again.” A small look of shock crossed Rose’s features. “Oh! I mean today. No more today. Obviously I don’t mean forever. Don’t think I could manage that. Forever, I mean. I’ll be very lucky if I can manage not to…” he gulped, realizing his thoughts were straying once again to somewhere they’d best not visit. “Um, anyway… I think we shouldn’t. Until you’re well again. We need to avoid further activation of the vortex energy in your cells.”

“But why is it making me so sick now? If I’ve had this… vortex energy inside me for so long, what is it that makes it so painful now?” she asked, confused.

The Doctor sighed. “It’s not the vortex energy itself, Rose. It’s the activation of it by my TNA that is making it create Lindos energy. And, essentially, humans were never meant to emit Lindos energy. It’s normal for Time Lords, but the production of it would be toxic to humans. If I’m right…. and let’s face it… I almost always am, then if we avoid trading genetic material and, um, stimulating you… for a while, then you won’t produce anymore Lindos energy and the effects of the existing Lindos energy in your system should stabilize until we can get back to the TARDIS and get you sorted.”

“You think you can? Get me sorted?” she said, worriedly. Images of them having to avoid each other for years to come came unbidden into her thoughts.

“Oh, I know I can, my beautiful wife,” he consoled her, feeling her anxiety. “I’m 99.7% sure we can figure out a way to at least contain the vortex energy again and maybe even get rid of it altogether with the TARDIS’s help. Then we can… dance… again as often as you like… pain free!”

“I’ll hold you to that,” she smiled, his promise helping her relax a bit. The idea of ‘dancing’ with him as often as she liked… hmmm… 

Oooooooohhhh… the Doctor’s smile faded quickly as he stood and backed away from the bed. The pull of her pheromones was becoming painful to fight now. The pull to take her when he sensed it was so very nearly overwhelming. He heard her apologizing again as he activated his respiratory bypass and continued backing up until his back hit the corner of a bookshelf, causing him to yelp. The good news is that it distracted his hormone addled brain for a moment, allowing him a bit more rational thought and time to escape the room.

“Just… I’m gonna check out the other rooms…” he croaked quickly in Rose’s direction using the air he’d stored using his bypass.

Practically running full on to the door, he threw it open and slammed it closed behind him before finally finding himself out in the hall. Taking a much needed breath of clean, hormone free air, he leaned over with his hands braced on his knees. After a few more head clearing breaths, he stood up again. Rassilon… it was becoming too much, even for him.

Stepping away from the door, he considered where to go next. Might as well check out each and every room along the corridor. It was unlikely, but there was a small possibility they’d missed blocking some way he and Rose might escape.

Getting to the next door in the hall, he considered the sign on the door. It held a picture of a Obrionian film camera from their 22nd century. He had a sneaking suspicion about what the space would hold, but tried not to think of the purpose behind the room as he entered. He needed to focus on finding a way out, not on new ways to shag his wife. 

The room was dark around the edges with a focused light aiming squarely on a large bed sitting in the centre of the room. The bed itself was a study in sensual set dressing, with ruby red satiny sheets and similar coloured but patterned pillows lining the top of it. The wall behind was draped with gauzy, billowing gold curtains covering the floor to ceiling windows. Surrounding the bed were film cameras, set up and ready to capture the… action… from various and sundry angles. 

Taking a deep breath to steady his nerves and to help him clear any remaining images of his incredible and naked wife, he moved quickly around the edges of the room looking for any clue as to how they might escape this place. Nothing there. The windows were next. Taking out his sonic again, he aimed it at the now sun filled windows. The readings confirmed his fears. They were reinforced as well. It seems their captors had assumed they’d need containing, but gave them a few rooms to explore while they were being held. All of them made to encourage, well, shagging. The Doctor sighed. Leave it to him to pick the one planet where him getting laid resulted in being mistaken for a deity.

With this particular space yielding no exits, the Doctor left and made his way along the row of rooms, exploring each. Every room was certainly interesting from the point of view of fantasy building, but none held anything helpful in terms of escape. 

Exiting the last room and emerging again into the corridor, he stood and really considered their options. There was still, let’s see… given the rate of sunset and the length of the day cycle here, it was a full twenty-two hours before the celebration of the Beothaia. Twenty-two hours! He wasn’t even going to consider the additional eleven minutes and thrity-one seconds that he was going to have to control himself so that Rose’s system would have a chance to settle a bit. He wouldn’t be the cause of additional pain for her. Not to mention the very real possibility that if they ‘slipped’, the levels of Lindos might actually become completely toxic to her to the point where she could… 

NO. He wasn’t going to think that way. He’d just have to avoid her for the remainder of their time here. He’d have to. She wouldn’t like it, and neither would he. He’d waited so long to be able to spend every waking moment with her, and now he was going to have to actively avoid that very dream. But it wasn’t forever. It would go by quickly. He’d just have to be honest with her. If she understood the real danger she was in, she wouldn’t argue. He prayed she wouldn’t argue.

Moving to back to the Library room, the Doctor entered and closed the door behind him. Then it hit him. Like a bullets of osmium pelting him from every direction. Attraction pheromones filled the air so densely that he thought he could almost see them. And there, lying under the duvet on the bed, lay his… oh Gods… his sated wife, looking guilty as hell. Immediately engaging his respiratory bypass, his breathing stuttered to a stop. He could use his bypass for a while but not forever. And he wasn’t able to talk while using his bypass either. Not for more than a sentence, until the air still in his lungs was expelled. It wasn’t enough to tell Rose what he needed to say to her. 

“Oh! Doctor… Oh, God… I’m sorry… I just… it was hurting again… I could feel it coming on, and I realized that when I… when I, uh, get excited, it doesn’t hurt as much, so I… um, well…you know. And… well it was hardly worth it anyway… barely took the edge off…” she trailed off, biting her lip.

Halla, Jesus and Orion. Well wasn’t this a lovely development. Well, he couldn’t explain anything in here. He was going to have to get them out of this room if there was any hope of him not losing himself in his wife again.

Moving to the bed, he used some of the remaining oxygen in his lungs to say, “Come with me,” while tugging Rose from her sweaty spot on the bed. Helping her on with her robe, he guided her to the door and opened it. 

Or tried to open it. 

It was locked. From the outside. 

Anxiety rose in him. Pulling out his sonic, he aimed it at the offending barrier and activated it. Nothing. “NO!” he shouted with the last of his air. 

Rose stood behind him, now looking panicky herself. “What… now we can’t even leave this room?” she said, alarmed.

The Doctor turned, his back pressed against the door, looking down at the entreating eyes of his trusting girl. He couldn’t answer her. And he couldn’t let himself breath yet either. He need to… Aha!

Moving to the study carroll, he picked up a pen and ripped a page from a book. Scribbling something madly for at least a full minute, he finally passed it to Rose. 

She read it out loud.

“I can’t talk. Respiratory bypass. I’m a danger to you right now. If I lose control and infect you with my TNA you could die.”

She looked up at him, her face filled with horror. “What do you mean?! I could die?!”

He pointed back to the page she was holding, silently entreating her to continue reading. She did.

“I’ll need to breathe again in another three minutes. I can’t control myself right now and I don’t want to hurt you.” Rose looked up again at him, her eyes tearing up. Oh my god.

Looking back at the paper she held, she continued, “Shackle me to the table. Don’t let me go for any reason. For NO REASON,” he wrote in big shouty capitals.

When she looked up from the page again, he was sitting on the cushioned table and shackling his own ankles with the fur lined metal cuffs attached to the bottom end of the table. 

“No! There must be another way, Doctor. I can’t… tie you up. How ‘bout I just stay away from you, yeah? I’ll just go hide over by the bed and leave you alone,” she said hopefully.

The Doctor shook his head emphatically and gestured seriously and insistently to the shackles dangling from the corners of the table. The glare he wore was meant for her. He wasn’t going to budge.

“Alright,” she finally said softly, giving in. His face relaxed slightly at her agreement and he lay back on the table, offering his wrists to her so that he was now splayed out on the table top. When the soft click of the last cuff was finally heard, he allowed himself a gulping breath. 

And was immediately assaulted again by all that was Rose.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You brilliant readers are the best! Thanks for your lovely reviews… you're all BRILLIANT! On with the 'show'...

Rose looked on, speechless, as the man she loved grew more and more heated before her. She’d believed him when he’d said he was affected by her pheromones, but she honestly hadn’t imagined the extent. The poor man lying prone in front of her just wanted to keep her safe, and she’d basically be torturing him without meaning to. In all fairness, though, she hadn’t known the full danger until only a few minutes ago either. 

Well, no matter how badly she felt, she wasn’t going to do that to him again. 

“Rose,” the Doctor said breathily from the table. 

Moving to his side, she stood looking down at him. Reaching out, she stroked his hair from his forehead. The action resulted in the closing of his eyes and a lusty moan. Oh. She pulled her hand away. “Sorry,” she said for what felt like the fiftieth time today. 

When he opened his eyes again, they were decidedly darker and completely void of anything but want. Rose swallowed and made herself back away. She wasn’t completely sure how this whole pheromone thing worked, but proximity probably wasn’t a good thing, she reasoned. Deciding it might even be best if he couldn’t see her at all, she made her way to the bed and sat on it. The Doctor craned his neck as far as he could to try to keep her in his sites, but when she finally sat down, he lost view of her and gave up, relaxing his neck and staring up at the ceiling again.

He grew quiet. Rose sat silent on the bed, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible. Unfortunately, the lack of distraction made her more aware of the pain once again growing inside her. Deciding she needed something to take her mind off the discomfort, she moved to the window wall to look outside. She could feel his eyes on her back, but the the view was spectacular and helped her focus on something other than the increasing pain in her chest. 

The day was obviously shorter here, and the sun was already starting to set. The sky was beginning to shine with oranges and pinks as the sun sank a bit lower on the horizon. As she looked out the window, she saw other vacationers come into view. If they only knew how easily it could’ve been them being held against their will, she thought. Wait… maybe they could help? If enough people realized the locals were holding them… they’d have to let them go, wouldn’t they?

She began waving her arms above her head to try to get their attention. Please look. Please look. Aha! She managed to catch the eye of one of the passers by walking along the path not far from the window. The woman turned to her partner and said something. Rose couldn’t hear them, obviously, but was hopeful when the man turned in her direction, looking concerned. Rose began to jump up and down, waving. She wondered if they might be able to hear if she shouted. It couldn’t hurt to try. “HELP! HELP US!!!” she yelled, beginning to pound on the window. The couple approached another human looking couple, also clearly coming out to appreciate the renowned sunset, and pointed in her direction. The room wasn’t ground level, but not more than a full floor off the ground. Maybe they could somehow break the glass from the outside?

Still yelling and pounding, Rose watched as more people began to congregate, looking concerned and talking among themselves… some animatedly. Rose almost began to feel a bit of hope. Even if these people couldn’t break the glass, maybe they could at least talk some sense into the locals and talk them into to letting them go. 

From the corner of her eye she caught sight of a few of the spa staff approaching the crowd. She continued to yell, shaking her head at the staff, trying to indicate that they were trouble. A few of the people who had gathered moved to confront the staff. Rose stilled for a moment and watched. Please. Please… 

The staff were gesturing toward her and looking annoyingly calm and pleasant. The other tourists, now speaking with them seemed to be calming as well. No! NO! This isn’t… 

Rose began to bang on the glass again. NO! She obviously couldn’t make out their words, but whatever they were saying had the crowd clearly relaxing. Some had even turned her way to smile at her in an ‘Awww, poor thing’ kind of way. NO!

She began to cry. No. She slumped against the side of the glass, laying her hand against it. No.

That’s when another wave of pain hit her. Actually ‘punch’ would have been the most accurate way to describe it, because this time, she felt as if she’d been fully punched in the chest. Hard. She grunted as the pain took her legs out from under her and she slid down the glass to the floor. A heart attack. That was all she could think that it could be. She was having a heart attack. Her breath became incredibly laboured and each small intake of air was punctuated by crushing pain in her chest and a hard pinching at the base of her ribs. The fire she’d felt in her skin earlier resurfaced, but this time didn’t spread from any one place. It emerged to cover her body as a whole, all at once. An agonized scream escaped her and another followed when the first faded. Blurry images of the people outside filtered through her torment. She wondered if she was hallucinating as well, because some looked like they were on their knees, bowing or praying. Others… the BeOths... were rolling their arms in waves in front of them. As she tried to focus on anything but the overwhelming pain that was beginning to consume her, a spotlight seemed to illuminate her from outside the window and it was increasing in intensity as the pain itself grew. In the distance she could hear the Doctor screaming, but it was so muffled and far away. Blackness closed in on her. She welcomed it. No more pain. Please…

But the blackness didn’t win. Agony won. In writhing, aching waves. She was helpless to it. She needed help. Please help!

But she was on her own. No one was going to help her. She had to help herself. How? How? Tears streamed down her face as she sat in the spotlight beside the window. The Doctor. She needed him. 

The pain actually abated a bit at the thought. She needed him, she thought again. The pain receded a bit more. God. Finally, she knew what she had to do. She had to. Damn his concerns. It was the only thing she could think of that would save her from this torment, if only for a while. 

Once again, the thought itself seemed to dull the pain, if only a bit more. 

Slowly getting to her hands and knees, she began to crawl away from the window toward the table, each contact with the floor a blazing stab of agony. She should have been alarmed that the spotlight was following her across the room, but each foot closer she got to her intended medicine decreased the level of pain, and that’s all she could focus on. This was it. He was the cure. He had to be! 

As she closed in on him, she could finally make out his words. “No.. Rose, no… we can’t,” she heard him say, even as his body seemed to be actively crusading against his words. 

Climbing slowly to her feet when she reached the table, she looked down at the man she loved above all others. Her proximity helped quell his angst about what she intended to do, and the idea of climbing on top of him, with him lying there, ready for her, must’ve made her emit further intoxicants, for he groaned and his eyes rolled back in his head. 

Pain continued to spur her on. Eying the button of his trousers, she couldn’t help but notice… REALLY couldn’t help but notice... his straining erection pushing up against the fabric. Her decision made, she unbuttoned, unzipped him, and pulled his trousers and pants down his legs to free him. 

Somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew the crowds outside were getting a good show. The spotlight continued to be trained on her, but she just couldn’t find it in her to care at the moment. She recalled her mother saying that when she was in labour with her they could’ve paraded the entire cast of Coronation Street through to have a look and she wouldn’t have cared less. She thought she might have an idea what her mother was talking about. All that filled her mind was pain and how she was going to get through each and every moment and each and every breath. Her body was merely a vessel of agony. How it was used… how she could relieve the pain… it was all she could focus on right now.

The Doctor continued to pull against his restraints, clearly hungry for this to move along. Well, she wasn’t going to disappoint him. At least, not until after he realized what she’d done. “I’m sorry, Doctor,” she said softly to his other, rational self who was currently absent, “it just hurts so much.” Tears continued streaming down her cheeks, as the fire continued to snake across and along every inch of her skin. But it was at least almost tolerable now. This had to be the answer. She could feel it. This couldn’t possibly make things worse… it seemed to be the only thing that made her feel better.

Undoing and dropping her robe to the ground, she painfully climbed on top of the table and her husband. The Doctor’s eyes roved over her hungrily as she crossed on top of him. From somewhere deep inside him, a grunted “Noooo…” was emitted before she took him in hand. There were no more words from the man beneath her now. Only primitive growls and moans. Spreading herself with one hand, she placed him at her entrance and slowly sank down on top of him. 

The level of pain instantly dissolved from a seven out of ten to a three. The relief made her gasp. So it wasn’t the climax alone that relieved the pain. It was making love. With the man she loved. Enjoying the respite for a moment, she merely sat atop him and breathed. That was when she realized that the spotlight had been turned off. Maybe these people had some semblance of decency after all, she thought. 

She sat still for another moment before movement under her brought her back. The Doctor was growing impatient. He began to buck a bit beneath her in an effort to get her to move. “Rose!” he breathed, a plea. 

Coming to herself again, Rose began moving above him, slowly raising and lowering herself on him. The movement made the Doctor bite his lip and screw his eyes shut. God, she loved looking at him like this. 

Trying to prolong the moment, Rose moved slowly, taking in every inch of him with every rise and fall. The Doctor groaned beneath her with the tightness of her enveloping him, but soon that wasn’t enough. Grinding up against her, trying to get her to pick up the pace, Rose finally acquiesced and allowed a more strident joining. The contact and added friction sent the Doctor reeling. He began panting, his chest rising and falling quickly with each shallow breath. Not immune to the sexual energy they were emitting, Rose began to feel herself building as well. Reaching down to touch the place where they joined, she pressed and circled around her apex until she was flying as high as he was. It was when he actually cried out that the pleasure peaked in her as well, and the two of them found themselves lost in bliss. 

Slowly coming down from her high, Rose knew if she opened her eyes she’d find brilliant orbs and flickers of light surrounding them. Not wanting to miss the small miracle, she allowed herself to look, despite the bit of guilt at the fact that this was exactly what the Doctor had been so worried about. She wasn’t disappointed. The lights surrounding them were dazzling and bountiful. She couldn’t help but let out a soft gasp.

That was when she felt soft shaking beneath her. Looking down, she saw the Doctor’s defeated visage looking up at her, his eyes filled with tears. He was crying. 

“Doctor,” she said, tears springing to her own eyes. “Oh, God… please… Doctor…” she said, leaning over smoothing his hair with one hand while wiping one of his tears away with the other. “Doctor, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry… It’s just… it hurt so badly… I couldn’t take it anymore. I’m sorry…” she said, her voice breaking as she tucked her face in his neck and sobbed.

Part of him was so… angry with her… he didn’t trust himself to say anything. What was she playing at?! He told her she could actually die for Rassilon’s sake. DIE. But another part of him… thankfully, the bigger part of him… felt terrible for her. The pain must have been unbearable. Really unbearable. If she was willing to risk dying to escape it. Finally sighing, he breathed out, “Shhhh. It’s okay, Rose. Shhh,” as he kissed the side of her head and did his best to nuzzle her in his bound position.

“It hurt so much. I… I’d rather die than feel that again, Doctor,” she said, still nestled into his neck, afraid to look at him. He must think her a terrible coward to even think such a thing. And the idea that she’d rather not be alive… that she’d leave him… to escape, made her realize how selfish she’d been. He needed her. That’s why he’d chained himself to this damn table, for God’s sake. “I’m sorry. I know that’s selfish.”

“Rose,” he said, “look at me.”

Rose pulled back and looked in his eyes. “I’m not going to pretend I’m not upset,” he said, “because I am. But I understand. I just wish… I wish I could help you instead of being the damn cause of your pain,” he said, his eyes once again shining with tears.

“Doctor… I just wonder, I mean… maybe it’s not so bad if we have sex?” The Doctor’s face grew solemn. “No… hear me out. Please.” The Doctor’s lips had become a thin line. He was clearly trying to be patient. “Doctor, I was in so much pain. But the minute I even considered coming to you and… coming to you, it got a bit better. And when I actually, um,” she blushed a bit, “had you inside me, the I felt so much better. Loads better! How can that be, if it’s so dangerous?” Rose said, hoping he might understand her point.

“Rose… it’s probably the hormones… the endorphins that your body releases during sex that ease the pain. But it’s the activation of the vortex energy by my TNA that induces the production of Lindos energy. It’s the toxins made during Lindos production that are at the root of the pain itself. So, even though it may seem that, in the short term, sex helps… it’s actually making it worse. Much worse. I can’t stress this enough, Rose. The more Lindos energy you create, the more toxins are released into your system and the more pain you’ll experience afterward.” His eyes looked so sad. So worried.

“Oh.” Her voice was small. She’d been so sure. So sure she was doing the right thing, despite the Doctor’s worry. But now… well, she understood it more. Damn it. And she’d just made it so much worse for the next ‘attack’. God… she couldn’t imagine it getting worse. If she was sure she’d rather die last time, then what would next time be like?

Wordlessly, she climbed off of the Doctor and scrambled down to stand on the floor. Gently, she pulled up his pants and trousers and fastened them. 

“I’m sorry, Rose. But… I have an idea. It might… I don’t know if you’ll let me, but it might be worth a try.”

Rose looked at him, hopeful. She was ready to try anything right now to avoid feeling that level of pain ever again. “Anything, Doctor. What?”

“Undo me, Rose,” he instructed. 

Rose moved around to the top of the table and released the cuffs on both sides. Sitting up, the Doctor rubbed his wrists, though luckily they weren’t too sore. Reaching down, he undid the cuffs around his ankles as well. “Okay. Come with me,” he said, grabbing up her robe and taking her hand, leading her to the bed. “Lie down.”

Rose did as she was told and made herself comfortable. A small pressure was blooming in her chest now. Damn. The reprieve was shorter this time than after their last amourous bout. He was right. She shivered. Whatever he had planned, she desperately hoped it would work. Because there were still many hours before tomorrow night and the damn ceremony they were waiting for. She just prayed the people here were going to be true to their word and let them go afterward. It seemed that now her life probably depended on it.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the reviews, folks… they're always so very very appreciated!

Once she was settled on the bed, the Doctor covered her with the duvet and sat beside her. “So here’s what I’m thinking, Rose,” he said, watching her to make sure she understood exactly what he was saying. “I can go into your mind and help you sleep. I can’t take away the pain, but I can make you sleep through it.” A worried look crossed Rose’s beautiful features. He knew she was wary of the idea. The kind of trust it required was immense. To give your consciousness up on purpose was a big decision.

Her reply was not what he’d expected. “What if I don’t wake up?” she said, tears once again welling in her eyes. “What if… Doctor, if I don’t make it…”

“Shhhh,” he said, smoothing her hair, trying to look reassuring. “You’ll wake up, Rose. I won’t let anything happen to you. You’re safe as houses, I promise.”

“Doctor… really, though. If I don’t make it… if you have to go on without me so soon… please, please promise you’ll take care of yourself. You’re rubbish without someone with you. You know that. So please, Doctor… promise me…” she said, wincing as a roll of pressure once again began grinding into her chest. 

“You’re not going anywhere, Rose Tyler,” he said, placing both hands at her temples. “I’ll make sure of that.” Closing his eyes, he pressed gently against her consciousness with his mind in a bid for her to let him enter. He could make her sleep whether she accepted him or not, but he wasn’t about to do anything without her express mental consent. 

After a moment, her mind did open up to his, and he quickly found the place to apply his mental pressure that would have her unconscious. Her mind was swimming in cortisol and norepinephrine as a result of her recent attacks, making her feel highly anxious and frightened on top of having to deal with the pain itself. Unwilling to move ahead without giving her a bit more reassurance, he brushed her mind with his own and did his best to convey a deep feeling of peace and comfort. He felt Rose relax slightly beneath him and her mind also released some of it’s anxiety. With that he pushed as much feeling of pure ‘love’ as he could in a single thought into her mind as he helped her drift off into unconsciousness.

She looked almost peaceful lying there beneath him now as he opened his eyes again, but he knew better than to assume this was how her mind felt right now. He knew Rose was waging a war inside of herself and he desperately prayed she could keep the evil forces at bay until he could get her somewhere where he could actually help her.

He took a deep breath. Oh, Gods. A mistake. Rose’s body was just giving off pheromones randomly now it seemed. Likely in her body’s bid to relieve pain, it was emitting hormones for the purpose of enticing a male to encourage mating. Self-preservation. Relief of pain at all costs. If only he could reason with her body now like he’d finally managed to reason with her mind. But there was nothing for it. Her body was intent on relieving itself of it’s agony, so it was doing what it had to to entice him to help out.

And if he didn’t figure out something soon, he was going to do just that. He could feel desire once again pooling in his groin as he watched her sleeping… so… ready for him…

No. No no nonono. Standing and backing away from the bed, he quickly turned to face the rest of the room. What was he going to do. The further away he was, the better, but that wasn’t going to stop her pheromones from eventually equalizing and reaching each and every corner of this faux library. He would be drawn to her again and with nothing to stop him… 

Looking at the table in the middle of the room, he moved to it quickly. Sitting on top of it, he removed his chucks and socks and sat with his feet tucked in close to him with his heels touching. He readied the cuff on the left side by placing it open, facing up, on top of the pads of his feet. Then, reaching over he clasped his right hand into the cuff on the right side. He then placed his left wrist into the open cuff sitting on his feet and used the pads and toes of his feet to push the cuff closed. HA! He was bound! Now he couldn’t get to Rose even if he wanted to. And he knew he’d want to. Who was he kidding? He already wanted to. 

Knowing this was going to be a long night, he scooted so that he was lying on his stomach on the table top. His arms were now outstretched above his head, both wrists cuffed to the edges of the table. Resting his chin on the tabletop, he could see Rose sleeping in the bed a ways across the room. She was so naked under that blanket, he knew. Rolling his eyes, he chastised his weak constitution for it’s clear failings in it’s inability to filter these damn lust-inducing chemicals. As a Time Lord his body could clean itself of toxins, poisons, drugs and alcohol within mere minutes, but get one little vortex infected human involved and he was toast. Well, that was pretty much always the case where this particular human was involved, anyway, he mused. He really was a goner the minute he’d grabbed her hand in the basement of Henrik’s. He sighed and turned to rest his cheek against the leather of the table top. If he was lucky, he’d fall asleep as well. He’d definitely been needing more sleep since they’d bonded, and it occurred to him now that maybe her pheromones had something to do with that as well. Well, hopefully that need would make itself known and help him pass the night a bit more easily. Closing his eyes, he actively sought out unconsciousness. 

 

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

 

He woke a number of hours later to the sun streaming into the room and a soft mewling sound coming from somewhere ahead of him. Disoriented, it took a moment for him to realize why he was sporting a massive erection and was currently humping a leather topped library table. Lifting his head to look for the very cause of his current state, his hearts broke when his eyes finally found her. 

Rose was curled into a ball, having thrown the blanket off of herself, and, while she still appeared to be asleep, tears were rolling down her cheeks. Whimpers escaped her as she cringed and moved in a clear attempt to escape something. He wondered what beast her mind had conjured as a personification of the pain she was feeling. He shuddered to even think about it. He’d given her a lot of images to draw from in their travels. 

Her whimpers decreased a bit, and he heard her mutter in her sleep. “Doctor…”

His hearts broke. This brilliant woman was calling for him and he was useless to her. All he was to her right now was a threat. The very cells in his body were toxic to her. Yet everything about her was calling to him, and he felt almost powerless to stop himself. He’d had to bloody chain himself to a table for Rassilon’s sake!

Lying there for a while, watching his wife sleep, he tried to focus on remaining clinical. Rose’s breathing was still laboured and her breaths were still quite shallow. Her usual pink colouring had been washed out to a near pale blue with the decrease in oxygen. For a while he counted her breaths and did an approximate analysis of her what her O2 saturation was based on the oxygen levels in the room and the approximate size of her lungs coupled with the decreased use of their surface area due to her current use of shallow breaths. The results weren’t encouraging. Spectacularly not encouraging, actually. This bloody ceremony couldn’t come soon enough.

He let himself consider this upcoming event for a moment. He had a good idea of what might be expected of he and Rose at this ‘ceremony’. The thought terrified him. Not because of the act itself… clearly that wasn’t a problem. But because it was one more nail in Rose’s… it was just asking for more pain for her. And he wouldn’t allow it. He’d fight it with everything he had. No. What he needed to do was come up with a plan to get away and to get Rose to the TARDIS when the BeOths came to release them for the ceremony.

Nothing particular was coming to him as he lay there. Damn it. His head was annoyingly fuzzy. Bloody stupid rubbish system he had. Couldn’t even clean a few vortex inspired human pheramones from his blood. Pushing his concentration a bit, he rolled the problem around in his head for a while longer. Nothing. Well, he’d have to come up with an incredible plan on the spot, wouldn’t he? He’d done it plenty of times before, right? He’d do it again. He wasn’t going to let Rose be the victim of this culture’s religious beliefs. Too many had been sacrificed across the universe in the names of various and sundry ‘gods’. He wasn’t about to let Rose become yet another in that long list of victims. 

A moan issued from the bed. 

For the thousandth time he wished desperately he could do something more to help her. Beads of sweat pearled on her forehead even as he watched her. She must be starting in on an attack in earnest now. Her hands cradled her abdomen and she groaned thickly, pulling her knees even closer to her body.

A dense wave of hormones washed over him. Gods! He clenched his teeth and tried to stay focused. It was then that Rose actually cried out and desperately clutched her hands to sides of her head. Her eyes popped open. Rassilon… what the hell kind of torment was she under that she was fighting the considerable strength of his psychic suggestion to stay unconscious?! Tears sprung to his eyes in recognition of her situation. He could tell she was still actually sleeping, but her body was fighting it with everything in its arsonal. 

That’s when things went completely sideways and the Doctor’s world dropped out from under him. Rose was glowing. It was faint, but present, and it seemed to be growing brighter. Oh my Gods… was it…? No. He refused to even consider it. If that effervescent light was what he feared it was… that meant Rose’s body was being overcome. The lindos energy was self replicating. The toxins were going to win. Gods! No! NO! 

“DOCTOR!” Rose’s voice shouted from the bed. “DOCTOR! DOCTOR!!! NOOOOO!!!” she cried, sobbing. She screamed… howled… in pain…

As her agony increased the thicker the air became until the Doctor was literally immersed in Rose’s pheromones. His world began to swim in front of him and rational thought began to elude him. No! He had to think! He couldn’t… couldn’t… what? He looked at Rose again. She needed him! Needed! And he needed her! So, so much…

He had to get to her. Now. She was… so alone… and he could help her. Help her… feel so much better. Soooo much. 

He pulled at his restraints, cursing himself for being so stupid. What had he been thinking? He needed her, and now he was stuck here! Gallifreyan curses filled the air as he tugged ineffectually against the cuffs. “Aaaaaaahhhhhh!” he screamed in frustration, unable to free himself. 

From across the room he heard Rose pull in a choked breath before grinding out another cry, ”DOCTOR! Aaaaaaaaahhh!!!” 

A mantra began playing over and over in the Doctor’s mind as he watched her...Go to her! 

Taking a deep breath of the Rose enhanced air that surrounded him, he moved so that his arse was scooted up to the top of the table. His wrists were still manacled, but his legs and feet weren’t. He could pull the table over to her. Getting himself awkwardly to the edge of the table, he managed to slide off so that his wrists were twisted behind him but his feet were firmly on the ground. With everything he had in him, he tried to move forward. The table was dead weight behind him, being much heavier than it looked. What the hell was it made of? But it wasn’t long before sheer determination had it moving, dragging behind him. Screeches of the table legs dragging across the stone floor added to Rose’s continued cries. The Doctor added to it with his grunts and curses, and soon the room became permeated with a cacophony of torment induced noise.

The table made it to the side of the bed, with the Doctor still attached. His chest heaving with the effort of having seemingly moved heaven and earth to reach her, the Doctor stood staring down at the crying, naked woman before him. 

“I’m here, Rose…” was all he could manage to say, before kneeling before her, his arms wretched painfully up and in back of him. His face was inches from hers now, but he could get no closer. “Rose… please, Rose…” he begged, needing her. Wanting her. He would help… this would… help… 

NO! A voice somewhere in the very deep recesses of the Doctor’s consciousness permeated his lust crowded thoughts. STOP!

It was a mental slap from his own rational mind. She will DIE. She will PERISH! But… But…

A fresh cloud of Rose’s essence found his lungs as he drew in a small breath. And that was all it took.

Pulling fully against the bonds trying to restrain him, the Doctor’s lips found Rose’s cheek. The chaste contact was enough to alert Rose to his presence, and she had no choice. Her own body gave her no choice. And bloody hell, she responded. Oh God… she responded.


	9. Chapter 9

The Doctor was close. So close. His breath gently puffed against her hot, pained skin. The cool ocean air played around them as they lay on the beach, the pirates having finally been run off by the settlers. The moonlight was bright overhead, but somehow seemed so dull compared to the bright, overwhelming pain that filled her. “Rose… please, Rose…” she heard him say, his voice sounding so insistent. So desperate. She couldn’t see him, but she could feel his eyes, so ancient and deep, boring into her as looked down at her ocean drenched body lying heavy and shaking on the rocky sand. His soft lips finally, finally touched her cheek and the effect was instant. His touch was a soothing balm to the searing, crushing agony she’d been subjected to and she was helplessly drawn to seek out more. Her body seemed to move of its own accord, moving closer to him so that it took no effort for her to snog him with full force. 

Cool relief soothed away a layer of pain so that the fire burned a bit less fiercely under her skin. More. She needed more. Plunging her tongue into his mouth, his fevered tongue found hers. Usually he was cooler than she, but now, with her body freshly plucked from the freezing ocean water, their temperatures were more complimentary.

The Doctor released a deep, feral moan as their tongues twined and fought for dominance. The sound resonated somewhere deep inside her, and called to her at a level beyond the ocean and the cool night air. Sensing the importance of this call, she allowed herself to follow it as it lead her closer to awareness… to wakefulness…

The heated movements of their kiss slowed as Rose came to full consciousness. Realizing what was happening, she jumped back, her eyes wide. Oh my God! What was she doing? She’d promised him. He had been so clear… so insistent that she follow his direction. His TNA… in any form… could cause her death. Scooting back on the bed, away from the Doctor, she touched her hand to her lips, realizing the gravity of what had just happened. Again. The pain, though… God… even in her dream it was unbearable! And now she was awake. Her ‘hit’ of endorphins in the form of a thorough snog had helped take the edge off a bit, but she knew it wasn’t going to last long. And the pain was still considerable. 

A primitive growl issued from the man currently pulling fruitlessly at the bonds keeping him at arms length from his prize. Relief was right there. In the form of a currently willing Time Lord. Oh, God… she wished she could just access him in pill form. Anything to get some more relief from this agony. But she’d promised him her forever. And it wasn’t fair of her to offer it and then knowingly and willfully snatch it away from him. No. She’d do everything she could to stay with him. She wasn’t going to be the premature catalyst for yet another sad chapter in his long, long life. She’d promised him she’d stay with him as long as she could.

With resolve, she grabbed up her robe and slowly, carefully slipped it on to at least stop visually taunting the man that was desperately trying to reach her. And despite her continued and once again increasing pain, she knew she needed to give him some physical space. She needed to literally give him some air.

Gingerly scooting across the bed so that she could get up and move away while keeping as much distance from the Doctor as possible, she stood, albeit hunched over in deference to the renewed pulsing ache in her abdomen, and began staggering away from her bound and helpless husband.

Her movement was arrested, however, when the door of the room swung open, making her stop in her tracks. From the corner of her eye she saw the Doctor’s head snap around so that he could see who was entering. She knew the distraction had snapped him out of his haze a bit.

Before them stood a good number of BeOths, all dressed in simple white shirts and trousers. 

“It is time,” the first one said, standing holding up a pile of shiny golden fabric.

The Doctor, momentarily lucid, shouted loudly, “Run! Rose, RUN!” 

She heard him but her brain refused to process his command. She couldn’t… wouldn’t leave him. She wouldn’t have been able to run even if she’d wanted to. Her body was merely a vessel for searing pain. Every movement she’d made in her vain attempt to put some distance between herself and the man behind her had been punctuated by aching, enveloping agony.

“ROSE!!! Please… please listen to me!” he pleaded. 

But within seconds they were upon her. And the touch of their hands was like thousands of piercing knives stabbing into her all too receptive skin. Her response was instantaneous and deafening, with her screams reverberating through the room.

“NO! LET HER GO!” the Doctor’s angry, piercing voice commanded from his position on the floor by the bed. 

“Ready him,” the first BeOth directed a couple of others standing behind him. 

As a handful of male BeOths approached, the Doctor considered his options. He could try to overpower them, but there were at least four or five more waiting at the door should this lot not be able to manage him. No, that wouldn’t work and would likely end with him even further incapacitated and useless to Rose. Reasoning with them hadn’t gone spectacularly well before, but there was always a chance. And perhaps they were ready to listen now. Unlikely, but it was worth another try. He only hoped his fuzzy brain was up to it.

“Listen, I can see you lot are looking to have Rose and I help you with your ceremony, and let it not be said that we turn down those in need, but I think you might be a bit off in your assessment of our worth here,” he said quickly, continuing his explanation while the men uncuffed him. “I mean, I can see why you might think we can help out… what with the itty-bitty lights flying around us, but that’s actually a kind of a Time Lord trick, that. Nothing mystical. Just plain old biology, really. Bit of energy expelled during, um… when we… mate. That’s it. Nothing magical, yeah?”

Rose’s cries had died down to whimpers as she was finally left to stand without anyone touching her. The men helped him to his feet and he was a bit taken aback when they began taking off his clothes. 

“Um, not to be rude, but this is a bit… hey! Give me that!” he barked as one of the men held up the sonic he’d found in his jacket pocket. The male spirited it away while the others continued with their current mission, which was apparently to get him naked. Fan-bloody-tastic. 

Having stripped him, they thankfully shook out one of the golden silken fabric squares the first male had been carrying to reveal a robe. Draping it over him, they began leading him toward Rose who was also now dressed in a gold robe and who looked very much like she wasn’t going to manage even staying upright for even another few moments. 

“Rose!” he said, alarmed, as his assessment proved true and she crumpled to the hard ground beneath her with a yelp of pain. Running to her side, he kneeled beside her, careful not to unwittingly hurt her further by touching her. “Look at her! We can’t help you! Can’t you see what’s happening?! If I don’t get her back to my ship she could die! Surely you can’t want that?!” he shouted, trying to make them see reason.

“We are sorry this is difficult for you, but it has been foretold and heralded in our sacred writings. ’The chosen must complete the celebration or the Beothaia will remain dormant forever. It’s bloom will bring a new era and new life.’ So many of our people are barren and it is said that if this does not come to pass, our race will eventually wither and die. We must ensure the continuation of our people. We have been charged with ensuring this celebration comes to pass. It is our sacred duty. Your mate is fulfilling her destiny, as will you.”

With that, the BeOths pulled him up from under his arms. They were deceptively strong given their relatively small frames. Before he could stop them, they did the same for Rose. The movement was clearly jarring for her and resulted in a strangled moan of pain. “Stop it!” the Doctor roared, pulling against his captors. He nearly escaped them, but two more descended upon him and subdued him, forcing submission. Rose stood mere feet from him, held up by two of the BeOths. Her head hung limply, her breath desperately shallow. It was then that her skin once again began to glow. 

Cries of excitement and wonder rose from the BeOths present. A few in the small crowd fell to their knees and rolled their arms in front of them in response. A high pitched keening howl filled the air, turning the room into a tempest of piercing noise. It was coming from Rose, the Doctor was horrified to realize. It was a cry he’d never heard coming from another living being and it ripped at his hearts knowing that agony was it’s cause. 

But with it came the mind-numbing aerosol that Rose couldn’t help but exude. No! The Doctor felt himself being dragged under, molecule by molecule. He fought it. Activating his respiratory bypass, he worked at staying in the moment. He couldn’t lose it. Rose’s life depended on him remaining in control. 

Moving out into the corridor was agonizing. The BeOths had taken Rose up from the floor and were carrying her out into the hall as delicately as they could. At least they showed some decency, the Doctor thought, bitterly. But it didn’t matter how careful they were at this point, as Rose’s body was only a conduit for misery. 

The BeOths obviously must have realized that Rose was going to be unable to walk, because from somewhere behind them they carried in an ornately carved and decorated litter. It consisted of a double bed sized pallet on which stood a tented enclosure about four feet high. All of the curtained sides were drawn back so the inside of the enclosure could easily be seen. The effect was one of a four poster bed with a roof. The inside housed a bed of sorts, covered with soft puffy foam of some kind. Handles were sunk into the sides of the pallet. Obviously they were to be carried to their destination and clearly this contraption was meant to carry them both. At the same time. Oh no. No no nononono. He couldn’t lie next to her. He was going to have to take a breath eventually. And with her power over him right now, he literally couldn’t trust himself to be near her when he did. 

This was it. This was his last chance to beg for Rose’s life. And beg he would. Allowing himself the use of his remaining oxygen to plead, he let out a tirade of entreating words. “You seem like rational, intelligent beings. Please… for the sake of all that it good… please don’t do this. We’ve done nothing to you. This… brilliant woman has only ever tried to help people! Please... do the right thing. Let her go. If you need a sacrifice, take me! She’s just a human… and if she doesn’t get help soon, she’ll die. And she can’t die, don’t you see? The universe needs her! I need her!” Tears of frustration and worry were running down his cheeks now, even as the BeOths loaded him onto the litter beside his literally radiant wife. He’d never felt so helpless in his lives.

And that was it for his oxygen. Instinctively, his body wretched in a breath. 

And was filled with Rose.

Her skin shone brightly now under her silver robe and the glow made the fabric shine as if in sympathy. Pheromones flowed from her in penetrating waves and assaulted his every attempt at defending his sanity from it. He fought as best he could, working to keep his body as far away from hers as he could on the cot. But despite his best intentions, feral thoughts bled through his sensible ones and crushed them with little effort. 

His hands began to reach for her. So close. She was so very close. His body hummed in reaction to her very presence. A dipping feeling in his stomach told him that the litter had been lifted. The sedan they were on began moving with slight bumping, swaying movements as the BeOths carried them toward their destination. 

The hazey awareness of their purpose jarred him a bit out of the lust filled fog he was in. Enough to make him scoot back and away from Rose’s pained, aching form once again. He had to keep his wits about him. He couldn’t compromise her safety any further. Once again engaging his respiratory bypass, he lay unmoving, near but not touching the pink… no. Bluish-white and shining yellow woman beside him. His stomach was knotted with worry. Her breath was coming in little puffs and he knew that under the glow of her skin there was nothing left of the pink blush he so adored. 

The evening air hit them as they exited the building and the Doctor chanced a breath when he gauged the whisper of a breeze to be blowing toward Rose. He filled his lungs greedily and once again engaged his bypass when the breeze faded away. It didn’t completely stop the direction of his thoughts in the way of Rose’s lithe body, but it at least helped him keep his hands to himself. For now.

Crowds had gathered along the path the BeOths were carrying them on. The Doctor could make out the many of the native BeOths kneeling along the edges of the road while others, likely tourist to this world, stood behind, watching the spectacle. The brainy part of him wondered how these people could rationalize their inaction in ignoring the plight of the two on the passing pedestal. They clearly didn’t realize. They didn’t know that the brilliant woman currently lying beside him was actually near death. How could they? For the sake of his belief in the inherent goodness of life, he had to believe they didn’t know. 

The crowd seemed to thicken as they drew closer to what the Doctor assumed was their destination. His mind raced. He could try to scoop Rose up and run, though he wouldn’t get far on only his respiratory bypass and even a nose full of Rose would surely cause him to drop straight to the ground and shag her wherever they happened to be at the time. Not to mention that there was a substantial number of people around them now. Getting through the crowd would be difficult if not impossible. 

While this all made sense to him, he still had to try. How could he justify just giving in and essentially killing the woman he loved in front of awed onlookers? Stealing himself, he turned his head away from Rose and pulled in a deep breath. While Rose’s essence floated around him, it was a bit less dense on this side. Molecules of need entered him, but their numbers weren’t as concentrated outside and facing away from her. The desire to reach over and even just stroke her hair… run his fingers along her temples…

Closing his eyes tightly to help him concentrate, he fought it. 

The luxurious litter was being lowered. This was his last chance. When the litter was finally laid on top of a raised platform of some kind and released by it’s carriers, the Doctor quickly flipped so he was on his knees. Scooping the balled up form of his mate into his arms, he crouched up in the small enclosure and jumped out the side of the sedan, immediately heading for a part of the crowd that seemed somewhat less dense. With Rose tightly clutched to him he barrelled forward, heedless of the people forming a living barrier before him. From the edges of his vision he spied a number of BeOths running toward them. The startled crowd parted as he pushed his way through with the pursuers close behind. Cries of alarm rose up all around and soon, realizing what was happening, the crowd closed in, effectively halting his progress. He continued to try to push himself forward despite the opposing forces ahead of him. Soon, though, their pursuers caught up and pulled him back, their hands insisting on his cooperation. They tried pulling Rose from his arms and she cried out in agony as their grabbing hands exerted pressure on her raw, sensitive skin. Refusing to release his hold on her, the Doctor tugged her back to him, nestling her further into his front as their tormentors dragged him back toward the plush litter. 

He fought as much as he could against their captors, but his efforts weren’t fruitful. Within moments they were back in front of the now cheering crowd being held in place by no less than four of the larger males he’d seen on this planet so far. Pure white fury welled in him. They were killing her! How could they not see that?! 

A hush descended upon the crowd. The Doctor searched for the reason and found a robe-clad male standing on a raised platform flanked by a number of other male BeOths. In front of the platform was a cordoned off area of greenery. The Beothaia plant, the Doctor assumed. 

“This is a sacred day,” the robed man began, his voice amplified by some unseen technology. “We are to be witness to the reanimation of BeOth’s most holy life. The Beothaia has emerged yearly for the past thousand years, waiting for its chance to shine again. Today is the day that the Beothaia will send forth its light and help free our people from stagnation! The light brings life! It has been foretold!” 

The crowd went wild, cheering and whooping. Many were kneeling, gesticulating wildly with their arms while others were actually in tears. Off worlders looked on, some clearly very affected and others merely interested.

“AT WHAT COST!” 

The Doctor’s voice rose above the din. He repeated his question as the crowd realized he was speaking. “At what cost?!” 

He was using the rest of his stored oxygen and then some with this last plea. “This woman has given of herself over and over for countless civilizations. She doesn’t deserve to have her life taken for this! She is an innocent! A victim! Her life has worth, and it’s not up to you to decide if she lives or dies. That is what you’re doing here! If this is allowed to continue, she will die!” his voice cracked at the final word of this pronouncement. 

The robe-clad man looked at the Doctor, his eyes filled with understanding and pity. “We are sorry this is so distressing for you. You and your mate are needed. By the Beothaia, by our planet, and by the universe. What you are suffering now will not be in vain. That, I promise.”

With that, the man gestured somewhere behind him in the crowd and then raised both his hands to the sky. “Conception is the key!” The native BeOths responded as one, chanting back the phrase with enthusiasm. “Birth is the journey!” Again, the people of BeOth echoed his words. “Children are the future!” The crowd cheered loudly. 

From behind the man at the pulpit, a child emerged looking quite anxious but obviously trying to be brave. It was the same child the Doctor had met in the corridor of the spa. “Riffen?” the Doctor asked, as the boy approached. 

He nodded. When he got close enough, he reached out a tentative hand and pulled at the Doctor’s robe in a silent request to make him follow. Looking around him, the Doctor did one last analysis of the situation. They weren’t getting away from this. There were no more possible exits. 

The Doctor felt his universe crumble. This was it. He’d just found her. They’d finally, finally admitted their feelings for each other. And now it was ending. The woman who deserved life over all others, as far as he was concerned, was consigned to death. Tears welled in his eyes. 

Resignation reluctantly seeped into him. Looking down at the small blue-eyed boy, he nodded silently. He’d follow. What else was there left to do?

The boy pulled him to the adorned litter which was now sitting only a few feet from the greenery and assumingly, the plant that would soon emerge from the ground. The sides of the litter were now covered with gauzy curtains that looked like netting you’d find covering the beds in the amazon on earth. At least they were going to allow for some privacy while he slowly killed his wife. He died a little with the thought. When she died, he would too. Not in body. Not right away. But there was no doubt in his mind that his soul wouldn’t escape with any semblance of life left within it.

The boy let go of his robe and held the curtain aside so the Doctor could enter the enclosure. Taking one last look around, he made sure to press his glare into a few of the people in the crowd. They needed to know that what came of this… the end of this brilliant woman’s life… would be on their heads as much as it was on his.

Finally he leaned into the small space and placed Rose onto the plush surface. He’d laid her as carefully as he could on her side on top of the pillowy foam, but she let out an agonized whimper nonetheless. Knowing there was no other choice, he crawled in after her and settled himself as far away from her as he could manage in the small space. Her skin glowed quite fiercely now, and it would be mere moments before the tent began to fill with her pheromones. 

The Doctor pressed his respiratory bypass into use one last time. There was no point putting off the inevitable. This was surely going to happen now. But he needed to say good-bye. He knew she’d survive their lovemaking, but he doubted it would be long afterward before her body succumbed to the toxins that would overpower her. He also knew that he would likely not come back to any semblance of rational thought before she passed as well. He pressed a soft kiss to her forehead and a strangled, pained moan escaped the helpless woman before him. “I love you, Rose. So, so much. I’ll… I’ll miss you,” he whispered, his breath catching even as the words escaped his lips. And with that, he allowed himself a deep breath in.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rose's fate is sealed. All that's left is to actually seal it.

“I love you, Rose. So, so much. I’ll… I’ll miss you,” he whispered, his breath catching even as the words escaped his lips. And with that, he allowed himself a deep breath in.

His lungs filled with the lethal air inside the curtained litter - air filled with tiny, invisible molecules of invitation for the Doctor to take the woman emitting them. His hearts began beating more quickly and arousal swept through him, overtaking him. 

Rose still lay on her side, glowing in agony. Her skin was pulsing brilliantly, seemingly in synchronicity with her laboured heartbeat. Her breath came in tiny puffs. Her skin seemed almost translucent under the luminescence. 

A fog of lust blurred his vision so that all he saw was a vision of sexual perfection before him. Somewhere in the recesses of his mind, a small part of him still understood what was going on and the ultimate effects of what he was doing, but in the forefront, only undeniable need motivated his every movement. Thankfully for Rose, the need was still coupled with love, even though the understanding that his need was a going to cause her imminent death was no longer available to him. His subconscious need to take care of her was clearly tempering his desire to simply take. 

Ripping off his robe, he leaned in, closing the distance between them, and brought his mouth to hers. The brush of his lips against hers felt like a cool breeze against her burning, seared skin. Still unable to respond, she lay, unmoving, as the Doctor’s lips worked hers. Even through the thick haze of pain she could tell it was taking every ounce of self control he had to not pull her to him forcefully and demand entrance. When her body allowed her even the slightest movement without the threat of torment, she began to respond, pushing her lips back against his so he knew she was consenting.

That was all he needed. Sliding his body along her silken robed form, the Doctor lay beside her and slipped his hand under the seam of her robe to pull it open to reveal her to him. The cool air hit Rose’s skin as the Doctor ran his hands along her side. With the Doctor’s body acting as a painkiller, Rose began to feel her body respond to his ministrations, encouraging him to continue. 

This last few hours had been a blur. The agony she’d been experiencing had gone so far beyond manageable that her mind had simply shut down, closing itself off from everything. She was pain. She embodied it. She didn’t exist apart from it. 

Until now.

Death was preferable. There was no doubt. And while she knew she’d promised her forever to him, she had to believe he’d forgive her this. He would never have wanted this for her. Not if he knew. And she simply didn’t have it in her to fight it anymore.

Giving herself over to him, she pressed herself against him. The relief was palatable and undeniable. His hand running over her side was like a analgesic, and she welcomed every stroke. Her body relaxed enough that she could unfurl her legs to stretch and press them against his own bare legs. A moan escaped the Time Lord beside her as he felt her body against his. She needed him unlike she’d ever needed anything before, and her need presented itself as a molecular open invitation. 

The Doctor’s erection pressed against her as they snogged, his rigid length finding short term solace in rubbing against the bare skin of her thigh. But that didn’t placate him for long. Within moments, the Doctor pulled her roughly beneath him so she was lying flat on the foam pillow. His insistent lips found their way down her body and greedily pulled at her left nipple until she once again whimpered, but this time it was a result of pleasure… something she had doubted she’d ever experience again. His wanton need overwhelmed her as he suckled her taught nipple and his hand teased her other until it also stood in a firm peak. 

His attentions had resulted in pain relief to the nth degree and she couldn’t have been more grateful. If she died after having experienced this, so be it. The Doctor’s hands roamed over her as he continued his ministrations and Rose revelled in each stroke. Arching into him, she couldn’t help but celebrate what this level of closeness was for them. They had taken so very long to come to this. The sharing of their bodies. Years of questioning and frustration were the sad price they’d paid for having waited to admit what they’d meant to each other. But at least, now that they’d plucked up the courage, they had this. They had now. And if she didn’t make it… if she died because of this exact joining… she knew that it would be worth it. She’d finally married and shared everything with the man that she loved. Nothing more needed to be done in this life if that’s what was accomplished.

“Rose,” she heard the Doctor utter as he pulled himself back up to her lips. 

She needed no more encouragement to part her legs for him. Growling audibly, the Doctor slid his body on top of hers so that he was poised to enter her. Reaching down between them, Rose took him in hand. The Doctor’s eyes literally rolled back at the contact and a loud moan escaped him. Guiding him to the place she needed him most, she encouraged him to push forward by wrapping her legs around him and gently using her heels to entice him to move. 

He didn’t need much enticement. At this point there was no ‘if’ in his mind. He was going to take her. She was open to him and her body was his. 

Without further thought, the Doctor plunged himself into her. The discomfort at his almost forced entry was so miniscule compared to what she’d been experiencing that it almost felt like a relief. Pulling out almost completely, he pushed himself into her again, sucking in a hissed breath of arousal as he did so. This repeated over and over and with each welcome intrusion, Rose felt a layer of pain being stripped away until the agony she’d felt earlier was a mere shadow of its former self. She knew only one more thing needed to happen to completely relieve the pain again, for one last time. Her husband was climbing steadily toward climax and she wanted to be there with him. One last time. Closing her eyes and reaching between them, she moved her fingers to the very place her body longed for more stimulation. 

She was surprised, though , when she felt her hand being removed. Opening her eyes, she found herself staring into the dark, lust filled eyes of her Time Lord. “Let me.”

A zing of electric pleasure shot through her as the Doctor’s fingers hit their mark and started rolling in pressured circles over her clit. It was Rose’s turn to screw her eyes shut, as pleasure threatened to overwhelm her. She tried to memorize this luscious feeling; the pangs and flickers of delicious energy flying through her very centre to every nerve ending of her body. The build-up was fast and strong and oh so savoured, despite it’s speed. The Doctor’s attentions became more and more frantic as he neared completion himself and his fevered movements and huffed grunts finally pushed her over into pulsing release. He chased his own release with almost ferocious thrusts until he literally cried out with the forceful ejaculation of his TNA laden seed. Poised above his mate, the Doctor strained with the last shudders of his climax before collapsing on top of her.

Lying beneath him, coming down from their shared bliss, Rose opened her eyes to find herself looking up into a profoundly bright cloud of glittering, dancing lights. She also became aware of the chants from the crowd outside of the tent. “Beo! Thaia! Beo! Thaia! Beo! Thaia!” 

That’s when the curtains covering the sides of the litter were stripped away. 

The cool night air hit Rose’s skin even as she tried to process what was happening around her. Many in the crowd cheered and the chanting grew even more in intensity with the removal of the curtains. 

A grunt of life sounded from the man on top of her. Pulling out and rolling off of her, he lay dazed beside her. Rose turned her head to look at him. His eyes were open but clouded. He was still ‘drugged’, she knew. 

Around them, the Lindos energy still circled, taking on a manic kind of movement. But it was the crowd’s gasp of awe that roused the Doctor more and made both of them turn their attention elsewhere. A few feet from the pedestal they lay on, the reaching delicate off-white prickly shoots of a plant were emerging from the dirt before their eyes. As they watched, it literally sprouted in front of them. What surprised Rose, though, was that the frenetic movement of the lights around them was gathering momentum and picking up speed as the plant before them poked more and more of itself through the sterile ground. 

A twinge of pain rippled through her then, reminding her of her oncoming fate. It had only been a minute or two this time between their lovemaking and the pain. Tears stung her eyes. 

This was it. She could feel it. She wasn’t going to make it through to the other side this time. She was going to die. There was still so much she’d wanted to do. So much she’d hoped to share with the man lying beside her. She didn’t want this to end. She didn’t want to end. But that wasn’t something she could control now. It seems neither of them could. 

The very worst part in all of this, was that the Doctor would never know how much she appreciated the sacrifice he’d made tonight. It killed her to know what this would mean for him. She wished more than anything she could somehow make sure he knew she didn’t blame him. That he didn’t deserve to live with guilt. That she couldn’t have gone on in such agony any longer anyhow. And that she loved him. So much. 

But she could try to tell him before agony claimed her. Hopefully he would be able to really hear her through the fog in his mind. “Doctor?” she whispered, leaning toward him. 

Reaching over to touch his face, she noticed that the BeOth had turned on their spotlight again, like they had in the library room. Anger swelled in her. How could they be so glib about what they were going through? This… torment was just some sick peepshow to them! But her thoughts ceased with the realization that the growing light wasn’t coming from above or beside them. It was coming from inside her! She was glowing! She looked at her skin with amazement as it pulsed with light before her eyes. It almost had her mesmerized, but the growing pain within her broke her from its spell. She had to hurry if she was going to be able to tell the Doctor what she had to before the pain took all other thoughts from her. 

Reaching out, she stroked the side of his face gently, even as the pain began burning a fiery course through her body. “Doctor… I need you to know… before I go…” but then her body spasmed in one long pulse of agony that shot from her centre clear to the very ends of every fibre making up her body. 

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

The sight of the plant before them actually growing right in front of their eyes would’ve been beautiful if it weren’t for the circumstances. But as it was, he was currently lying beside the woman he loved most in the universe and had, only a minutes ago, sealed her fate. His body had succumbed, as he’d known it would, to her body’s call for peace. For an end to her pain. But in doing so, her body was betraying her and ending itself. And he had betrayed her as well. It didn’t matter that in the end, he had been unable to choose any other course of action. At the end of the day, he was responsible. 

The ‘ooo’s and ‘ahhh’s of the people gathered at the celebration lulled him from his defeated thoughts. 

The lights around them were almost becoming blinding in their intensity and the Doctor was finding it more difficult to see through them to make out the miracle a few feet away from them. The plant before them was growing at an alarming rate. It was quite large now, taking up a few feet in diameter and it now reached up at least two and a half feet toward the sky. He could make out twinkling sparks of light shooting out from the plant’s ragged tips and, after hovering for a moment, the sparkling orbs seemed to drift toward he and Rose. But that wasn’t what had him completely mesmerized. 

The plant… it looked so like... 

The Doctor’s hearts stopped. But that was impossible. Completely impossible. 

That’s when he felt the feather soft touch of Rose’s hand against his cheek. Her voice drifted through the noise of the crowd and her words made his breath catch. “Doctor… I need you to know… before I go…”

But then her words stopped. And madness ensued. Rose instantly crumpled in on herself, curling into a fetal position as light pulsed and writhed over her body. The Lindos energy from the plant and from their lovemaking was now gravitating to Rose alone, leaving him merely bathing in its light while she was surrounded by it. It seemed to pour from her now as well, her skin radiating the miraculous but lethal energy. 

Calling to her, the Doctor tried to move closer… to hold her. He needed to be with her. He needed her to know she wasn’t alone. He was there with her, even to the end. 

But the energy she radiated held him at bay and it’s force actually made him unwillingly back away from her even further as it pulsed outward from her form. 

And that’s when Rose let out an ear piercing cry. Her body arched back on the mattress and her arms and legs were thrown out to form a crude ‘X’ on the foam beneath her as streams of intense light burst and shot from the entire surface of her body. A blast of wind slammed into the crowd with the force of the energy flowing through her, throwing a number of people to the ground and driving the Doctor further away from her even as he tried to crawl back toward her. 

Then, in a display that was nothing less than horrific and mesmerizing at the same time, a dazzling arch of light shot from Rose to the plant in what seemed to be a macabre exchange of energy and the Doctor watched in awe as the plant itself began to exude the same level of Lindos energy that Rose did. 

The plant was trying to fertilize. Rassilon! Gods!!! He understood now. It was pulling the Lindos energy from the strongest source available to it… Rose. If Rose hadn’t been with him… if she hadn’t mated with him… the vortex energy inside her would never have been activated and she wouldn’t currently be the biggest producer of Lindos energy in the area… energy that should never have been produced by a human in the first place. The spikey dull-white miracle growing before them would have to have taken it’s energy from him. From a Time Lord… which would have been a natural process for it. This plant needed a Time Lord to fertilize. To grow. But instead of seeking out the proper native inhabitant of its home planet, it honed in on Rose. This was a fledgling TARDIS and it was trying to bond with Rose. It needed a Time Lord… specifically a Time Lord’s symbiotic nuclei… to complete the Rassilon Imprimatur which gave TARDISes their ability to survive the physical stresses of time travel. But Rose wouldn’t survive this young TARDIS’s attempt to imprint, because bonding with a human was unlikely to result in anything but the human’s death. That, coupled with the toxins flowing through her from the Lindos production, would seal her fate. And now that it had begun bonding with Rose, he couldn’t stop it. 

The night was now ablaze with light as the Doctor looked on, completely horrified and helpless. Then, as quickly as it began, it ended. The light piercing Rose’s every pore pulled itself back into her and she lay, unmoving, on the litter before the crowd. The plant glowed faintly as the energy it held slowly faded. 

No one moved for a few moments. Even the Doctor sat, completely paralyzed, unable to process what had happened. His inaction didn’t last long, however. Jumping to his feet, he flew to Rose’s side. “Rose!” he shouted, cupping her face with his hands. Her skin, usually so warm, was cooling now as the Doctor held her face, frantically looking for any sign of life. Throwing his ear to her bare chest, he tried to calm himself enough to really listen. Please… please…, he begged the universe, don’t be gone… don’t leave me...

That’s when his superior Time Lord biology proved itself worthy of his constant boasting and he heard it. The faint, but now growing beat of her heart. But… He listened again. Rassilon! No. He was hallucinating. Had to be. Stopping again to really concentrate, he heard it again. A second heartbeat. Gods! Moving his ear swiftly to land just above her right breast, his suspicion was confirmed. She had two hearts.

But… but…

Leaning back to take in her face, he stared at the absolute miracle lying before him. Not only had she lived… she’d… he swallowed, hardly believing he was even thinking this… she’d regenerated.

Rose’s eyes began to flutter open. “Rose!” the Doctor cried, scarcely able to believe what he was seeing, “Rose! You… you’re alive!” he said, scooping her up into his arms enthusiastically. 

A soft breath escaped her… a little gasp of awareness. She was alive? But… how?

Allowing her more room for breath, he leaned her back on the foam and smoothed back her hair, beaming at her with every fibre of life he had to share. “Rose… you’re a miracle! A fantastic, brilliant miracle!” he grinned, his smile wide enough to encompass her very soul. 

Unable to help herself, she found herself reflecting his enthusiasm. She was alive! She didn’t know how, but she had survived. And the part she was most aware of, was that the pain was gone! This was something she was even more thankful for than merely being alive. She lay quiet for a moment, letting it all sink in. “I’m alive,” she said, almost to herself. Then focusing on his ecstatic chocolate brown eyes, she reached up to smooth her hand along the side of his face and said softly, “Told you I was stayin’ with you forever, didn’t I?”. 

“That you did, Rose Tyler,” he smiled, his eyes filling with joyous tears. Then, leaning in, uncaring of the cheering crowd and the cool night air and the needs of the universe, he kissed the woman he’d been blessed with… again.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rose is faced with some alarming information in this chapter!
> 
> There is one more chapter to follow this one… a few more questions needed to be answered! Thanks to all who have been reading, faving and reviewing! I love writing, but you guys make this all the more rewarding!

Awareness slowly creeped into Rose’s mind. Light played on her eyelids, warming them. It felt… brilliant. Taking in a deep breath before opening her eyes, she was treated to a barrage of smells. Immediately, her mind catalogued them. The crisp smell of the freshly laundered sheets of the unfamiliar bed she was lying on, the smell of bath soap… green tea scent, if she wasn’t mistaken, a tiny hint of smelly sneakers (her own), the deoderant she’d put on after her last shower… the list went on. But the smell that got the lion’s share of her attention was that of the Time Lord she’d bonded with. The glorious scent of mild spice, warm musky attraction, and… time. 

She’d been sleeping for… um, about 14 hours. No. Not about that much. Definitely that much. 14 hours, 14 minutes, 54 seconds, to be more accurate. Wow. Long night. Wait… 54 seconds? What...

Allowing her eyes to open slowly, sensing the light would sting them if she allowed it in too quickly, she discovered that her pupils’ reaction was almost instantaneous, making her vision instantly sharp and clear. Amazing. Her eyes were adjusting at least thirty-three times faster than normal for some reason. 

Once again, she interrupted her racing thoughts with a What?! Where the hell were all these numbers coming from? Not to mention how on God’s green earth she knew how fast her pupils were dilating. 

She began to feel a bit worried. What was going on? She felt… busy… like her mind was moving a mile a minute. Sitting up and turning her head to look around her, she immediately regretted it. Everything in the regal looking bedroom popped and sparked in her vision. Every surface, from the lush velvet material covering the chair near the bed to the smooth surface of the table topped with a number of brightly coloured packages and a couple dozen flowers in vases, seemed to offer two layers of existence… the one she always saw, and the other one… it was as if everything had a second layer of colour. Colours she’d never seen before and therefore had no words to describe. She let out a small gasp at the visual assault and quickly screwed her eyes shut. 

“Rose?” she heard close by. 

Scared to open her eyes again, she called out, “Doctor?”

The air pressure changed near her as she felt the Doctor approach from across the room. “Rose! You’re awake,” she heard as she felt the bed dip beside her. The soft press of his hand on her cheek reassured her, but she still didn’t open her eyes again.

“Doctor,” she said, her voice betraying her growing panic, “what’s happening?”

“Shhhhh,” he said softly, gently stroking her hair. “Keep your eyes closed for a few minutes, Rose. It’s probably just your new visual cortex reacting to stimulus in the daylight.”

“My WHAT?!” she said, completely alarmed now.

“Rose… take a deep breath,” the Doctor said softly, trying to help her relax. She did. “There. Now, we have quite a lot to talk about, but first, I need you to try to stay calm. What I have to tell you is a bit… well, a lot of a surprise, not to mention a complete miracle, really. But first, let’s just see if we can get you used to what you’re seeing, okay?” he said rationally.

Rose nodded. 

“Right. Now, I want you to open your eyes slowly and look at me. Nowhere else yet. Understand?”

She nodded again and steeled herself to open her eyes. Slowly doing so, her vision filled with the Doctor’s gorgeous face. But… ohhhh. Rose found herself sucking in a breath in awe. He was soooo… breathtaking. It was like seeing him for the first time. She instantly detected every individual reflection of light hitting of his clean, thick hair. The contours and shadows of his face set apart every delectable ridge and curve of his gorgeous features and every small fleck of colour in his eyes was amplified, making it almost impossible for her to look anywhere else. 

The Doctor smiled brightly. “Hi,” he said simply, his eyes twinkling.

“Hi,” she said back softly, an awed smile touching her lips. If she got to see anything with new eyes, this was the sight she’d wish for every time.

“Now I want you to focus on something behind me, but don’t move your head.”

Rose complied, purposely looking just over his shoulder at a picture on the wall behind him. Once again, the two layers of reality seemed to makes themselves known. “Don’t move your eyes. Just focus on the same thing for a bit, until the sensation starts to fade.”

It was so odd. Whatever was happening, she hoped he had plans to start explaining it soon. Deciding to put off the questions until after this bit of orientation, however, Rose did as she was told. The picture behind his head seemed to swirl in her vision and in a few moments the colours seemed to coalesce into one intense, crisp image. 

Deciding to try the same staring tactic on something else in her line of sight, Rose chose something else to focus her eyes on. She decided his jacket would do. Purposefully training her eyes on his chest, she soaked up the image. The brown of his jacket swirled in colour for only a moment before becoming one with the spectrum of other ‘browns’, for lack of a better word, and settling into one vibrant image. 

“How’s that feeling?” he asked, trying to gauge how she was progressing.

“It’s good. Better.” Deciding to ask the most obvious question first, she ventured, “Doctor… where are we?” her eyes once again settling on his face, trying not to become lost in the vivid details she was seeing as if for the first time. 

“We’re still on BeOth, Rose. In one of their standard rooms. I imagine they figured we’d both had enough of the theme rooms for the time being,” he said, keeping an eye on her to make sure she was handling the visual stimulus okay.

"What?!" she said, fear digging into her stomach. “They were gonna let us go, they said! It’s over, right? The ceremony is over?”

“It’s okay, Rose… it’s alright. We’re free to go now,” he said, reassuringly, reaching out and hugging her close. “I have to say… when they had us locked in the library, I was ready to rip them a new time stream just to get you off this planet, but, I have to admit… if they hadn’t held us here… well,” he swallowed roughly, “in the end, it would’ve been decidedly and fantastically not good.” Clutching her even tighter for a moment, he once again played over the other possible outcomes for Rose had their ‘captors’ let them go. There was no question he was ultimately thankful for their interference. He had, however, had words with the powers that be about their appalling lack of manners with regard to their privacy. The fact that Rose had to endure such agony was one thing. It was quite another to have crowds seemingly revelling in it. Not to mention the fact that the subsequent form of pain relief should’ve been an intensely private affair between him and his wife. The memory of the spectacle made anger rise in him once again, despite the positive outcome.

“Doctor… what happened to me?” Rose asked, her voice pulling him from his thoughts.

Leaning back from their embrace, the Doctor cleared his throat and ran a hand through his hair. “What do you remember about last night, Rose?”

She closed her eyes in order to focus on an answer to his question. “I remember… pain. A lot of it. Never felt so awful in my life. And then…” she looked at him again, “I remember you and me...and then… um, I remember the pain was gone. That’s about it,” she said, furrowing her brows in concentration. “How come I don’t remember anything after that?”

“Do you remember the ceremony?” the Doctor hedged, looking a bit unsettled. 

“I… I remember people around us. Wait…. the plant. I remember the plant. It grew right in front of our eyes!” Rose said, recalling the quite miraculous sight. 

“That’s right, Rose. The Beothaia plant. Well, it turns out it was a bit more than just any old sacred plant. In fact, it wasn’t a full fledged ‘plant’ at all, really. It was actually the pre-fertilized egg of a TARDIS coral.”

Rose’s jaw dropped. “A TARDIS… egg? But… how did it get here? All the way from Gallifrey?”

The Doctor rubbed the back of his neck. The topic of Gallifrey was never an incredibly comfortable one for him. “Probably not. No, it was likely spread by a rogue TARDIS while it travelled through the vortex.”

“Wait… can they grow anywhere? Are there TARDISes growing on earth as well?” Rose asked, truly curious. Imagine growing up not even knowing there was a sentient time machine growing in your flowerbed among your begonias. 

The Doctor shook his head. “No. Never saw one growing on earth, though I suppose it's possible. But no, TARDIS’s don't normally grow on planets other than Gallifrey. But somehow, this egg was scattered by a TARDIS that didn’t have access to it’s home planet.” Rose saw a pained expression cross his features before he schooled them and continued. “TARDISes haven’t reproduced naturally for thousands of years. But TARDISes, before the time of Rassilon, used to reproduce naturally on Gallifrey by basically spreading eggs randomly across the surface of the planet while flying above it. From there, the eggs embedded themselves into the soil and would wait to be fertilized. But they could only fertilize if the soil itself was life sustaining. TARDISes are notoriously picky growers and require the soil they grow in to be a perfect mixture of nutrients. For that reason, the embedded egg would release neutralizing chemicals into to the soil in order to make it perfect for a fertilized TARDIS to grow in. The process of readying the soil took years and the whole cycle… from embedding to fertilization to the completed growth of a TARDIS took hundreds of years. Not the most efficient way to reproduce, but TARDISes take a lot of natural resources to grow, so really, it was a good symbiotic relationship between the planet and the plant.” 

The Doctor stood and began pacing. “Anyhow… like I said… in my day, TARDISes were cultivated and grown by the Time Lords and were rarely found growing naturally. But it looks like some TARDIS took it upon itself to reproduce of its own accord. At least, it seems one was trying, anyhow.” The Doctor’s brows furrowed as he continued his explanation, “Problem is, there aren’t many Time Lords around these days to form a symbiotic relationship with it in order to fertilize it, so it was languishing away here waiting for a Time Lord to cross its path.”

“Hang on… so… they need a symbiotic relationship with a Time Lord to fertilize the egg?” Rose wrinkled her nose. “Are you saying that you somehow fertilized the TARDIS egg with your, er… Time Lord pollen???”

“What?! No!” the Doctor scoffed. Then, thinking it over, he amended, “Though… I suppose now that I think about it… it does basically the same thing. But that’s where things get a bit, um, confusing. You see… the egg wasn’t particularly interested in me, Rose.”

“But I thought you said it needed a Time Lord?” she said, truly confused.

The Doctor gulped, then said softly, “It did.”

Rose looked at him, bewildered. What was he getting at? She was about to once again ask for clarification when it dawned on her. It did. Her mouth opened… and then closed. Was he saying what she thought he was?

The Doctor broke her shocked silence. “The egg found what it needed, but it wasn’t interested in me, Rose. It used you. It used the Lindos energy you were producing to fertilize itself. That’s basically pollen to the TARDIS plant. Lindos energy. Like it does for a Time Lord, it basically encourages life and regrowth and rebirth. The TARDIS plant uses Lindos energy to reproduce. And you…” he swallowed, “you were the biggest producer of it at the time.”

Rose’s brow creased once again. So… maybe it wasn’t what she had been thinking. “So it needed the energy I was producing because you and I… because the vortex energy in me was, uh, activated by your TNA? So did the egg just… suck the bad energy from me then? You said it was toxic to humans, yeah? So the plant basically saved me, right?” she said, still trying to sort it in her head.

Taking a deep breath, the Doctor blew it out between pursed lips and sat down on the bed beside her. “Rose… what I’m trying to tell you… apparently not very well… is that it needed you because you were exuding Lindos energy. The exact right kind of Lindos energy. The Lindos energy wasn’t killing you. It was changing you. And you were producing so much of it because… you were regenerating.”

“Regenerating?” Rose said, stunned. “You mean… like you do?”

“Yes, Rose,” he said gently.

Rose sat in stunned silence. Regenerating? No. He had to have it wrong. “But… only a Time Lord can regenerate. Since when can humans regenerate?” she asked, her voice betraying her disbelief. “And I’ve seen you regenerate. It happened so quickly for you. If I regenerated, why was I in pain for so long?”

“Rose… you regenerated. And you were human, but ever since Bad Wolf you’ve had the potential to be…” he paused before saying the words… “Time Lord.” He waited for a response, but all he got was shocked silence. Wanting to leave no room for confusion, he added, “And now… well, that’s what you are. Completely 100% Time Lord,” the Doctor concluded, hoping his point was gently but finally made. 

Rose looked like a deer in headlights. “So… I really regenerated?” she hedged. 

The Doctor nodded, watching her reaction carefully. Then, a look of horror crossed her features. “Oh my God! Do I look different?!” she squeaked, her hands flying to her face, frantically trying to feel for any differences.

“No, Rose! You’re the same! You look the same as you did,” he said, trying to calm her a bit. 

“Oh,” she said, sighing in relief.

“It’s your, uh… first body as a Time Lord. Kind of like, you’re a newborn, of sorts. I guess a better way to say it is that you’re a newly grown Time Lord. Or should I say ‘Time Lady’. Always hated that term, ‘Time Lady’” the Doctor said, rolling the word around in his mouth. “Sounds… less somehow. And using ‘Time Lady’ to refer to you… you’re anything but ‘less’. Now… MORE would be a better way to describe you. Technically, I suppose more is actually more accurate, since you came into being in a brand new way. ‘Cause it’s not like you were a Time Lord from birth. Wow. Come to think of it… no Time Lord has been technically born… directly from a mother… for, oh, a thousand years. No, you’re not merely a run-of-the-mill Time Lord. Lady. You know what I mean,” he said, his mouth finally running out of steam.

“But… how did this happen?” Rose asked, questions now running amok in her head. “How could I be a plain old human one minute and a Time Lord… Lady… the next?” she asked, her astounded eyes looking to him for answers.

Taking her hands in his, the Doctor continued trying to explain. “I think that when you looked into the heart of the TARDIS, the genetic potential for becoming a Time Lord was written into your genes. And, like the TARDIS egg… you needed to be, uh... ‘fertilized’, so to speak. The genetic code needed to be activated. And that’s where I came in. My TNA acted as a trigger to the genetic material the vortex left within you. When we… exchanged cellular information and you… felt complete... you were creating Lindos energy, but not just because of the residual vortex energy left from Bad Wolf. You were creating Lindos energy because your previously dormant Time Lord genes were causing you to regenerate.

“But… how come it took so long? When you regenerated it only took a minute or two,” Rose said logically.

It usually only takes a couple of minutes, Rose, but because the Lindos energy was only produced in small quantities each time we… well, there wasn’t nearly enough to bring about a normal regeneration. So, basically… you were regenerating, but it was about 1767 times slower than normal for a Time Lord. The pain you felt was what I feel when I regenerate, but it lasts only a minute for me. For you, it was spread out over days and days,” the Doctor’s brow furrowed, “I can’t imagine how it must have felt. You were feeling every cell of your body change… for days!” The ordeal must have been excruciating. He knew she was in agony… there was certainly no denying it… but somehow, having lived the pain himself before, it really hit home.

The Doctor found himself needing to swallow his emotion in order to continue, “So your body sought me out… to, um, mate with, so the process could go faster. That’s why your body was producing so many pheromones. To ‘lure in’ a male Time Lord to mate with so your body would have more Lindos to work with and the regeneration could be completed sooner. And your body wanted to encourage mating, so even anticipation of it increased your endorphins which decreased the pain you felt. The more… involved you got in the act of mating, the more pain relief there was. Your body was protecting itself in every way... and I…” he suddenly felt overwhelmed by guilt, “... I was actually making it so much worse by refusing you. And you knew,” he said, running his hands through his hair. “You knew it was making you better… and you even tried to tell me. To convince me!” The Doctor looked away, clearly trying to hold tears back. 

Rose’s heart… hearts… broke, seeing him so wracked with guilt. He had had to watch her in writhing in agony before his eyes. She couldn’t imagine having to watch the one you love go through such torture. She honestly thought she was probably the lucky one. If it had been her having to watch him in such pain for so long… she didn’t know if she could have survived that. And now… knowing she might have not had to go through that for as long as she did…

Throwing herself into his arms, she hugged him fiercely. “You couldn’t have known, Doctor. You only wanted to help me. You’ve only ever wanted what was best for me. And I knew you were there. And I knew I was loved, no matter what happened at the end of the day,” she said truthfully. 

Encircling her with his arms, he held her tightly against him, breathing her in. Letting her affection for him soak in a bit, he allowed himself a moment to really appreciate it. “You were. You are loved. You will always be loved. And I’ll never stop saying it.” Would he ever really deserve this woman? He prayed one day he would really be worthy. Because he would never tire of this. Holding her. And now… well, now he could maybe allow himself the once unallowed dream of literally never having to let her go. Pulling back from her, he studied her beautiful face and allowed himself to drink her in in a brand new light. “How long you gonna stay with me?” he asked, knowing the answer would mean even more than it ever could have before. 

Rose gave him a gentle smile and met his gaze with a soft intensity. She knew the significance of her answer for this man who had outlived all those he’d ever loved. “Forever.”


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote the final chapter which ended up being a freakin' crazy length, so I divided it into two parts. There is, therefore, one more (naughty) chapter which I'll post right away so as not to draw the pain out TOO much!
> 
> Thanks to all for the support and reviews!!! XO

The Doctor scooted around the console, pushing buttons and throwing levers, looking completely at home and in his element. This was where he belonged. Here. Inside his TARDIS with his bond mate. 

It had been two days since Rose had regenerated, and after she woke in the hotel room, he’d retrieved the TARDIS and moved her into the infirmary, where he’d been longing to have her for the last week. She fell back into a healing coma a few times since then, suffering regeneration sickness. No surprise, given the trauma of the actual regeneration she’d been through. The Doctor had tried not to hover, but failed miserably. He didn’t feel too bad about it though. He felt he deserved some quality hovering time, given all they’d been through in the last week.

During that time, he worked at resurrecting mental barriers he’d let relax since the Time War. With Gallifrey gone, he’d not had to shroud his thoughts from others in a while. But with Rose being a Time Lord… he’d have to make sure to shield her from his mind until she was ready. He’d have to assist her in doing the same until then as well… in the interests of her privacy. It was something he’d have to bring up with her soon, but she had enough to contend with, just with her new heightened senses. Such a realization… that your mind was kind of an open book of sorts, was a whole other level of stress he felt she wasn’t quite ready for. No… that would have to be discovered slowly and with care, he decided. With that very thought in mind, he’d carefully entered her mind while she slept and put up some barriers for her. Nothing invasive. Just enough to help her block the ‘background noise’ of his and the TARDIS’s emotions. 

It was finally just this morning that Rose woke and seemed ready to stay awake. Once again, he’d tried not to fuss, only doing the bare minimum of tests and examinations. In the end, she finally shooed him away with the excuse that she needed to shower and use the loo. Unable to argue with that logic, he allowed her some space to take care of her ‘needs’. 

Deciding to retire to the console room, he looked over the controls of his beloved ship. He’d felt her worry for Rose humming in the back of his mind even when they were being held at the spa and had sensed her attempts at consoling him as well. But now that they were back and seemingly in one amazing piece, her happiness buzzed at the back of his mind creating a warm, pleasant tickle. He let himself bask in the happy feeling for a moment. He looked forward to a time Rose would be able to share in this as well. At that thought, the TARDIS flashed an unpleasant greeny-brown sick feeling at him. She didn’t like his meddling with Rose’s mind. “It’s not for long, I swear,” he assured her. “Just a few days, until she adjusts a bit.” The TARDIS pushed a second, unimpressed feeling at him, but it felt a bit less judgemental. Patting the console lovingly, he began inputting the sequence to their next destination. “Let’s take her somewhere easy… how about… Tjoira 3? Somewhere she can just relax and get to know herself again. Then… I promise, I’ll tell her about her, uh… new mental communication skills.” Setting the coordinates, he moved to reset the phase convertor. Tjoira 3 sounded good. They never did get a honeymoon, and now, well, somehow pleasure planets seemed a bit too… intense, for his liking. Tjoira would be a nice, relaxing middle ground between boring and thrilling. 

Just as he was about to throw the lever to send them into the vortex, a renewed pink and yellow… he grinned… Time Lady… wandered into the room, looking spectacularly healthy and alive. Literally running over and grabbing her up into his arms, he swung her in a circle. A squeak of surprise bubbled out of her as he squeezed her tightly. 

“Whoa!” Rose exclaimed as he set her on the ground and hugged her close. “What’s all this about?” she smiled.

“Can’t I squeeze the life out of my bond mate now and again?” he asked, innocently, still holding her to him, but looking down at her affectionately. 

Rose grinned back. She could get used to this. “Hey… I’m not complaining! Apparently I have a few lives to spare now, so squeeze away,” she giggled. 

The Doctor’s expression became semi-serious. “Listen, just because you’ve got a bit more life to play with now doesn’t mean you’re to go looking for more ways to shorten it. Got it?” he said with mock sternness.

Rose schooled her features into something close to contrite. “Sorry, Doctor. I promise to try to maintain some longevity. Good enough?” she teased.

“Not nearly, but it’ll have to do,” he sighed, hugging her tightly to himself again. “Honestly, Rose… it’s a miracle I haven’t regenerated just due to worry over you.”

Rose let herself sink into him as he held her, the two of them just standing, enjoying their closeness for a few moments. “So… speaking of regeneration… I have just a few questions about this new life of mine,” she said, her voice a bit muffled by his jacket.

The Doctor kissed the top of her head before answering. “I imagine you do,” he acknowledged. Pulling back he took her hand and lead her to the jump seat. Sitting to face her, he said, “Fire away!”

Rose couldn’t help but smile at his attempt to downplay his excitement. Ever since she woke in the hotel she could feel him exuding an underlying current of enthusiasm over her new state. “Well… I know I’ve got two hearts. So that’s a bit new. Is there anything else I have two of that I didn’t have before?” she asked, tongue in teeth.

“Oh. Well, yes, actually. Good question, Rose Tyler! Okay, let’s see. You’ve got an extra liver now. Handy, that. Very useful when faced with a number of toxins that would normally either interfere with human functioning or outright kill them. Let’ see. What else? Oh - you’ve got a couple more ribs now. More internal organs to protect, one of which is the galificous… an organ specific to Gallifreyans. It’s the production site for temporal platelets… important in speeding up healing of injuries not severe enough to require regeneration.”

“That’s why you heal so quickly when you’re hurt? I thought you were just being all macho… pretending things didn’t hurt for as long as us mere humans,” she teased.

“Oi! I am macho. I just happen to be macho with a bit of extra pizzazz!” the Doctor quipped. “And no point in teasing any longer, Rose Tyler. You may have noticed… you’re no longer insulting just me when you mock Time Lord biology!” he stated, grinning insanely.

She giggled a bit at his pronouncement. He was like a kid at Christmas having just opened his favourite present. “Okay… I’ll have to be more careful from now on,” she grinned. “So, what else should I know about myself now that I’m an almighty Time Lord,” she smiled.

“Well… biologically speaking, you’ve got a couple more layers of skin now. Better for damage resistance and durability. Ummm… Oh! You’ve got a respiratory bypass now! Brilliant!” he exclaimed, once again getting lost in the thrill of describing her upgrades. “That means I won’t have to panic every time we’re short on oxygen somewhere!” he grinned like a loon. “I’ll have to help you learn to use it properly. Not an automatic thing, really,” he added, thoughtful. “Let’s see. What else? Ummm… you might notice you’ll have to void less often. Same with, uh… excreting waste. Not as much of that now. Your body makes much better use of what it consumes than a human’s does. Same with perspiration. Hardly any of that, because your body temperature regulates itself internally rather than relying on external cooling. Shouldn’t need to brush your teeth either… your bacteria fighting microbes immediately kill off the offending organisms that create odour and decay.” 

“Really? But I could’ve sworn I smelled mint on you before. You mean, you just naturally smell like that?” Rose asked, amazed.

“Weellll, maybe I’ve occasionally enjoyed a bit of minty brushing just to, uh… draw the attention of a certain female I might have been interested in impressing a bit,” he admitted, waggling his eyebrows.

Rose chuckled. “You didn’t have to add minty freshness to your resume for me to be impressed,” she grinned. “But that’s good to know. No more cavities! This is getting better every minute!” 

“Absolutely!” the Doctor smiled. “And best of all, Rose Tyler… you have a very, very long life ahead of you. Twelve regenerations, to be precise. And each individual body can last hundreds of years barring accidents. Kind of explains my relative youth even though I’m on my tenth body. Barely got through 10 years for a couple of them. Luckily I managed to make up for time with a couple of the others. Anyhow… I imagine I still have a few hundred years left in me at least.”

Rose frowned a bit at that. She potentially had well over a thousand years of life ahead of her. But he wouldn’t be there for all of it. Imagining living hundreds and hundreds of years of her life without him made her almost ache. She didn’t want to think about it, so she pushed the thought aside - though the irony of her reaction to this unwelcome realization wasn’t lost on her.

“And on that note… I kind of thought, well, since we didn’t get a proper honeymoon… we could maybe take a truly relaxing holiday somewhere and start the next few hundred years off right! I mean… I can never guarantee anything, I’m coming to realize, but there’s a planet I’ve got in mind that has better potential for relaxation. What do you say?” he smiled.

Rose grinned back. “That’s exactly what I was hoping you’d say,” she said honestly. She was truly feeling a bit overwhelmed with all the changes she’d been through. Some quiet time seemed like just the thing to help her settle into this body a bit more. “I love it,” she said, leaning in to hug him. 

Giving her a quick, tight squeeze, he jumped up and circled the console. Throwing the lever to get them into the vortex, the TARDIS took off, emitting the familiar wheeze and groan Rose had come to love.

But it wasn’t a few seconds later, she landed again, the ‘whump-whump-whump’ sound not actually ever completely fading from take-off to landing. 

“What?!” the Doctor exclaimed. “That was… hold up… What?! Where are we?” he asked into the air. Knowing he wasn’t addressing her, Rose waited, hoping he’d sort out whatever it was that was wrong. Flying to the screen on the other side of the console, he frowned, his mouth open in concentration. “But… why? What’re we doing back here?” he asked aloud, once again not seemingly addressing anyone in particular. The TARDIS lights pulsed a couple of times. “But… oh, for… YOU have got to stop meddling!” he shouted up at the time rotor. The TARDIS pulsed a red wash of light over the console room in response.

“Doctor… what’s going on? Where are we?” Rose said, more curious than concerned. Clearly the TARDIS had something to do with this, and while she could see the Doctor was unimpressed, he didn’t seem fraught with worry.

“We’re still on BeOth, for Rassilon’s sake,” he said, groaning. “It seems the TARDIS thinks there’s unfinished business here,” he said circling the console once more.

Rose reflected for a moment, suddenly aware of a subtle difference in her surroundings. “But it’s not the same time,” she said with wonder. “Oh my God, Doctor… I can feel it! It feels… different. Like there’s some kind of difference in the air pressure surrounding us or something,” she breathed.

The Doctor stopped his movement and focused on his wife for a moment. A swell of pride rolled through him. She was actually able to feel it already. Well, of course she could, he chastised himself… she’s brilliant! “You completely right, Rose. It’s amazing you can even sense that already. It is a different time. A thousand years different, to be precise,” he told her, moving toward the door.

“In the past, yeah?” she said, taking his offered hand as he neared the doors. 

The Doctor stopped and turned, his jaw slack. “Right again, Rose. That’s… that’s astounding! It takes native Gallifreyans years to learn to make sense of those kinds of changes in time differences,” he said, clearly impressed.

Rose felt herself preen a bit. It was nice to know that someone with her upbringing had such potential in something. The Doctor was always telling her she was brilliant, but she never really believed him. He was the embodiment of brilliance, after all, and she was just a shop girl from the Estate. She didn’t even have her A-levels. Granted, she’d managed to demonstrate her potential a bit by quickly picking up the skills she needed to be a midwife and tend to the sick in Newfoundland, but she certainly didn’t consider herself ‘brilliant’ by any stretch. She couldn’t help but feel a bit chuffed, though, getting such a compliment about her potential Time Lord-ness. “I guess I have a good teacher,” she said, squeezing his hand.

The Doctor puffed up a bit with the compliment. Never mind that he hadn’t actually taught her anything yet. “Come on… let’s see what’s got the TARDIS all stubborn.”

They stepped into the night air and found themselves a short distance from the spot that the ceremony had taken place. The difference was that there were no cordoned off areas and no people were about. In the distance they could make out a few lights coming from BeOth dwellings, but the spa wasn’t yet standing where it would one day be. 

“Why are we here?” Rose wondered aloud, taking in the surroundings. A shudder ran through her at the unwelcome memory of the unyielding pain she’d suffered only a few yards from where she was standing. 

“I’m not sure… but I bet it has something to do with our friend ‘Little Eggy’,” he said, his voice betraying a bit of excitement. “Come on!” he said, grabbing Rose’s hand and pulling her toward the clearing ahead. 

Arriving at the spot where the ceremony would take place a full thousand years from then, the Doctor looked around, using his sonic to illuminate the ground he was looking at. It took him no time at all to find what he was looking for. “Aha!” he barked happily. “Rose… come see this!” 

Moving to his side, Rose studied the ground he was examining. What she saw made her gasp. It looked like the ground had been hit by a small meteor, with dirt being scattered for at least six feet around the spot where it had landed. In the centre sat the TARDIS egg - the plant they’d been recruited to help illuminate a millenium from now. 

The Doctor moved in closer to inspect the egg more thoroughly. Crouching down beside it, he touched it lightly with one finger. “Ouch!” he yelped, yanking it back quickly, immediately sucking on his burned digit. “It’s just landed!” he said, his voice high pitched with both pain and amazement. 

“Just now?!” Rose said, incredulous.

“Rassilon’s Robes, Rose! Do you know what this means?!” he exclaimed. “This egg isn’t just any old TARDIS egg! It’s THE TARDIS’s egg! Our TARDIS!”

Rose’s jaw dropped. “But… oh my God! She’s a… mother?” Rose asked, gobsmacked. 

“So it appears,” he said, a grin blossoming on his face as things started to fall into place in his mind. “That explains why she was so insistent on having us come here for our honeymoon in the first place! The little minx! She knew what was happening to you, and she knew how to help! She knew you needed amplification of the Lindos energy to fully regenerate… something a developing TARDIS could give you. At the same time, it satisfied her need to reproduce!” the Doctor grinned manically. 

Rose couldn’t help but be swept away by his enthusiasm. If it weren’t for the TARDIS, she might still be languishing in pain somewhere. The thought made her shiver once again. And now… they were going to be… an aunt and uncle? Grandparents? TARDIS… grands? Whatever they were, she felt something akin to pride at having been allowed to take part somehow. 

“But since we’re here again… I’m willing to bet the TARDIS is hoping we’ll help out a bit more. it seems our job isn’t yet finished,” he said, still looking at the egg before them.

“What do you mean?” Rose asked, hoping whatever it is they had to do wouldn’t involve pain of any sort. 

“Weeellll,” he said, slowly standing, “the egg needs a bit of stray Lindos energy to implant into the soil. I could always summon up some up by manipulating my endocrine system, allowing me to breathe a bit out for the wee one. Ooorrr,” he drawled, pulling Rose to him tightly and looking down at her suggestively, “there’s, uh… another way we could share some Lindos energy with the seedling that’s a lot more fun than merely breathing,” he suggested, sweeping her hair off her shoulder and leaning down to press his lips to her neck.

A shiver ran through Rose for an entirely different reason than it had earlier. “Um… what did you have in mind, Doctor?” she asked, her voice betraying the effect his kisses were having on her.

“Oh… I don’t know,” he said pressing another kiss into her neck. “I thought I might find a way to talk you into taking your clothes off and then see how things progress from there,” he said in a throaty voice.

Slightly pleased that her reaction to him wasn’t quite as screamingly obvious as it had been only a few days ago, she stepped back from him slightly and looked around. Not a soul could be seen. The night air was cool, but certainly bearable. Or ‘bare-able’. Deciding she wanted a chance to turn him on for reasons other than pure chemical reaction, Rose let her tongue dart out between her teeth and looked at him with hooded eyes. She was suddenly very thankful she’d thought ahead to consider such eventualities as this between them, because after her shower earlier she’d decided to put on a particularly sexy black lace bra with matching knickers… if the tiny amount of fabric they consisted of still technically allowed them to really be considered actual knickers. 

Reaching down to take the hem of her t-shirt, she slowly pulled it up to reveal her skin to him a few inches at a time. She’d planned to be daring, but found herself oddly bashful at this attempt at a striptease, so she closed her eyes as she inched the shirt further up. Deciding to focus on the feel of the night air playing on her skin, she imagined the soft breeze was actually the Doctor’s cool breath against her. What she didn’t expect was the extra sensitivity her new skin allowed her. The thought of feeling the Doctor’s body against her newly awakened skin made a familiar achy desire fill her. 

Finally, pulling the shirt completely over her head, she opened her eyes to find the Doctor watching with rapt attention, his eyes dark. Drawing a bit of courage from his seeming interest, she toed off her trainers and reached to undo the button of her jeans. Slowly, she wiggled them down past her hips so they pooled on the ground at her feet. 

The Doctor’s body seemed tense, but in a way that told her he wasn’t going to keep his distance much longer. Reaching down to pull off her socks and step out of her jeans altogether, she let her tongue drift seductively over her teeth as she ran her hands over her breasts and around back up her sides. She could’ve sworn she heard him make a low throaty sound as he stood, his eyes raking over her . Grinning at the effect she was having on him, she finally reached around and undid the clasp of her bra, allowing it to slide off her arms and onto the ground in front of her. With that, she strode back toward her Time Lord. 

“Is this what you had in mind?” Rose said, finally standing directly in front of him, her voice low and soft.

“Oh, no, my bond mate," the Doctor's intoned. "Not nearly.”


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is it! The end of this part of the saga. Thanks so very much, my lovely readers, for coming on this journey with me!

The Doctor’s body seemed tense, but in a way that told her he wasn’t going to keep his distance much longer. Reaching down to pull off her socks and step out of her jeans altogether, she let her tongue drift seductively over her teeth as she ran her hands over her breasts and around back up her sides. She could’ve sworn she heard him make a low throaty sound as he stood, his eyes raking over her. Grinning at the effect she was having on him, she finally reached around and undid the clasp of her bra, allowing it to slide off her arms and onto the ground in front of her. With that, she strode back toward her Time Lord. 

“Is this what you had in mind?” Rose said, finally standing directly in front of him, her voice low and soft.

“Oh, no, my bond mate,” he intoned. “Not nearly.” 

 

With that, he closed the distance between them and pulled her to him with an arousing level of possessiveness. Pushing his lips to hers, he played them with soft intensity and she responded with the same level of energy, revelling in the feel of him pressed against her. His hands drifted along her back to her backside and, once in hand, he kneaded her bottom gently before roughly grabbing her arse to pull her hard against him. 

A rush of breath escaped her and her ridiculously strong reaction to his measured aggression almost made her blush. Desire pooled deep in her belly and and the moisture gathering in her knickers reminded her how deeply this man could affect her… maybe even more so now that her body’s senses were heightened far beyond what they ever used to be. Her new body’s level of need was not lost on her bond mate, either. 

Pulling back, he made a point of looking right in her eyes with his lusty brown orbs before reaching down and very purposefully pulling the slip of fabric aside and sliding a finger between her legs to gather some of the moisture that had now made her readiness for him very known. Rose gasped as his finger grazed her sex, but she discovered an entire new level of arousal when the Doctor pulled his glistening digit up to slide it between his lips. Rolling it around in his mouth as if savouring the most delicious taste in the universe, he actually groaned. And so did Rose. How could anyone make anything look so hot!

Before she could even calculate a decent response other than another wordless moan, the Doctor’s hand was back between her legs, sliding two fingers deftly between her folds to bury them deep within her. A strangled moan escaped her again, and she found herself gasping as he eased himself down to kneel in front of her. Freeing his hand to pull her knickers down her legs, he cupped her behind with one hand to steady her and he brought his fingers up again to enter her. He began plunging in and out of her, curling his fingers ever so slightly to push against her now even more sensitive front wall. Small keens of excitement flew from Rose’s lips with as she quickly approached her climax… but the build up was more exquisite than she’d ever remembered having experienced before. She’d never even realized she might be able to come this way… just with pressure there without… but that’s when his tongue found her incredibly sensitive clit, its tissue erect and waiting. At least that’s what she assumed she still had down there… she hadn’t done a complete and thorough inventory yet. The wet pressure of his tongue on her centre quickly and deftly distracted her from her thoughts and brought her attention completely and thoroughly back to her own pleasure. With every flick and press of his tongue as it swirled against her, she felt herself edging further and further into almost excruciating pleasure until his clever tongue sent her flying headlong into a hard, throbbing climax. Her knees started to give out as his tongue and fingers continued their punishing strokes until she had to stop him, her legs no longer able to keep her up in a standing position. 

Easing her down through the now hovering Lindos energy she’d expelled to lay her in the soft, cool grass, the Doctor kneeled back and undid the button and zip of his trousers, pulling them and his pants down a bit before leaning down kissing his way up her belly. She was still panting, coming down from her literally mind-numbing orgasm as he gave a short bit of attention to each breast before moving himself up to cover her mouth with his. As his lips met hers, he positioned himself at her entrance and, whispering something seemingly reverent in Gallifreyan, he slid his length blessedly inside her. A deep throaty moan escaped him as Rose’s tightness embraced him. Her hips rose to meet his, but not in a soft, delicate movement. Rose was inviting him to take her, so like he’d wanted to do a few days ago. She pushed her hips up again and grabbed his arse hard. 

An actual growl gathered in his throat and he felt himself responding in a disturbingly primitive way. It made him pause for a moment… this lack of control was not something he normally relished. But Rose, sensing his hesitancy, decided she wasn’t going to let him overthink this. Digging her nails into his back, she scratched straight up from the top of his backside to his shoulder blades. 

She was giving him permission to let go. To act on his once loathed impulses and just enjoy this primitive part of himself for a change. Deciding to allow himself this… because Rose seemed to want it for him, and because he actually was beginning to hate this part of himself less… he looked very deliberately into Rose’s almost… feral eyes… before plunging himself deep inside her. Pulling out quickly, he rammed himself home again, and looked down to find Rose actually grinning, looking up at him. 

Well that wouldn’t do. Deciding he needed to wipe the smile from her face to have it replaced with slack jawed arousal, he leaned in and fastened his teeth onto her shoulder. Not hard enough to draw blood, but hard enough to possess. A soft hiss of surprise issued from Rose as he eased off to gently kiss the area he’d been so rough with a moment before. Rutting into her from above, his teeth nestled into the soft flesh of her shoulder again, and he let out another muffled growl. 

Beneath him, Rose’s face was finally reflecting the exact look of lust he’d hoped for earlier, but he wasn’t in a position to see it. All he could see, in fact, were the swirls of energy building around him as he approached his own climax. Rose cried out under him and he realized she was going to reach her pinnacle at the same time as he was. Continuing his punishing pace, his movements became more and more frantic until he finally let go with a piercing cry. 

“Doctor! Oh, God… Theta!” Rose cried loudly as she came around him, her muscles squeezing him even more tightly, drawing out the end of his own climax. 

Lindos energy bounced and flitted around, lighting the dark sky around them. Slowly it began drifting toward the egg, as Rose’s previously expelled Lindos energy already had. The egg itself had begun glowing more and more brightly as the Doctor and Rose’s shared regeneration energy reached it. 

Still joined, Rose and the Doctor couldn’t help but watch the small miracle taking place before them. The egg, gathering their expelled Lindos energy, began growing roots which plunged into the ground beneath it, anchoring it to the soil and planet itself. The whole incredible process took 9 minutes, 37 seconds, but it had them so enthralled that it seemed to take considerably less time than that. 

Finally, the implanting seemingly completed, Rose sighed and ran her fingers through the Doctor’s hair while still looking at the plant. “That was… beautiful,” Rose breathed.

“Yes, it was,” the Doctor smiled, staring down at her and waggling his eyebrows a bit. 

Rose laughed, playfully swatting his arm. “Not that!! Though… that was actually beautiful as well. In fact… I can honestly say I’ve never felt anything quite so amazing. Ever. This Time Lord body is just getting better and better all the time,” she grinned. “But I was talking about the egg. I can’t believe it’s going to be a TARDIS someday,” she said, looking back at the plant.

“Oh! Right. The egg! It is a bit of a miracle, isn’t it?” the Doctor said, helping Rose up and tucking himself away. “Then again, so are you, Dame Doctor, Defender of the Earth, Bad Wolf, Ex-Human, Time Lord, Mrs.Theta, Tyler…”

Theta. That was when it hit him. She’d said his nickname. When she’d… But where had she heard that name? He hadn’t heard it himself for many years. That’s when he realized that the barriers he’d erected for himself had cracked a bit during their lovemaking. Hardly a surprise, given the intensity or their joining and his lack of practice maintaining mental barriers lately. Some of his own memories must’ve leaked out a bit during their… activities. He’d knew he’d better pay better attention next time. Or better yet… he should just tell her. Yeah. He’d do that. Just not now.

Despite his intense internal dialogue, Rose seemingly hadn’t noticed his distraction, as she merely continued their conversation while gathering her clothes. “Yeah… suppose I am a bit!” she grinned up at him, having pulled her shirt on over her head.

Her smile was infectious and soon distracted him from his guilty thoughts. “There’s no doubt, my wife,” he grinned back. 

As Rose continued to get dressed, she couldn’t help but think about the egg. “I wonder why they called it a ‘Beothaia,” she mused. “Beo - for BeOth, I assume. But I wonder what ‘thaia’ means.”

The Doctor turned back to look at the subject of their conversation. “Well, a ‘Thaia’ is a type of flowering plant on earth, but that term wasn’t coined until quite a while after the Gaets were around,” the Doctor commented. Then a thought occurred to him and he stood frozen in the face of it. Could it be? He let his mind direct him from one logical conclusion to the next and each path lead him to one conclusion. “I’m not sure about the ‘thaia’ part of the name, Rose, but I suspect the ‘Beo’ stands for something very different than merely ‘of BeOth’,” he said, his features betraying his realization.

Rose’s curiosity was piqued. “Oh yeah?”

“Oh, yes,” the Doctor said seriously. “You see, the Gaets were quite known for one particular piece of writing, Rose. A poem. Beowulf.”

Rose’s breath caught. Memories of the Game Station flooded her. Was this all part of some larger design organized in the moments she had all of time and space in her mind? She had spread words across the universe to guide her and the Doctor to important places and times in her life. Well, this certainly qualified as one of those.

The look on her face must’ve betrayed her surprise. “That’s right, Rose. And the name… ‘Ucus’... remember? The name the psychic paper assigned us? They must have known to recognize us by the name ‘Ucus’ when we arrived a thousand years from now.”

“But … Ucus… does it mean something important here?” she asked, a bit nervous for his answer.

“Not here so much. They must’ve taken the name ‘Ucus’ from the longer word ‘Beothucus’. It’s the scientific name for the Newfoundland wolf, Rose. You. You’re the Newfoundland Wolf!”

Things fell into place in Rose’s mind. Beo, Ucus, the legend… there was no question. “Bad Wolf,” she whispered.

The Doctor regarded her seriously. “I think so, Rose. I certainly explains a lot.”

“But if every word seems to have meaning here, I wonder what the ‘thaia’ part of ‘Beothaia’ was supposed to mean?” Rose considered. 

The Doctor thought for a moment. “Nothing I can think of… and that’s saying something,” he said, self-appreciatively. 

Rose giggled. “My Theta,” she said, moving in and leaning up to kiss him on the side of the mouth. The Doctor’s body stiffened. Rose pulled back, sensing his disquiet. Did it bother him that she called him that? Come to think of it… why had she started calling him that? She knew she’d never called him that before tonight… but for some reason it felt incredibly natural to refer to him by that name. Theta. Theta… Thaia…

The words tumbled over in her mind. They had called him ‘Thaia’ back in the spa… when he left her to find a way out. Could they have been calling him ‘Thaia’ as a mistake? Were they just mispronouncing ‘Theta’? But even if they were… how did the BeOth know that name? She was sure she hadn’t called him that before. Then it hit her.

“Doctor,” Rose started, wanting to test a theory, “I was wondering… remember when I was starting to get sick at the spa and you went into the hall to talk to the BeOth?”

The Doctor nodded, “Not an experience I’ll soon forget,” he said, remembering.

“What happened out there?” she asked.

“Well… I went into the hall to try to talk some sense into them, and when I got there and started trying to explain… to reason with them… they started echoing me. Not hugely bizarre in itself… I suppose the words of a deity are worth repeating. But it was after that. They actually started saying what I was saying at the same time I was saying it! It was… quite astounding, really. Unsettling,” he frowned, recalling the how disturbed he was by it at the time.

Having a strong feeling about the importance of the next part of this conversation, she asked, “What… what did you say? The whole conversation - word for word?”

“That’s an odd question. What are you thinking, Rose?” 

“Just… indulge me,” Rose said seriously. 

The Doctor repeated the ‘conversation’ word for word, as only a Time Lord could do. As he recited, Rose wondered if she might be able to recall things in such detail now that she was so biologically superior.

When he finished, she nodded, as if considering the dialogue. She’d been listening, but not for the content, really. She was just remembering how distraught he’d been when he returned from the corridor.

“Hmmm. No wonder you were so upset when you came back to the room,” she said, leaning up to kiss him sweetly on the lips, in remembrance of the kiss she’d wanted to give him then to calm him. 

Then, remembering her hunch and the weighty purpose of this conversation, she felt almost physically compelled to continue, “So… what happens now? With the egg, I mean? Does it just… wait?”

“Well, now its roots will expel a type of fertilizer that will ready the soil for when it’s fertilized. Kind of sad that it will take a thousand years before that time, but that’s what it is,” he said, a bit wistfully. 

Once again, she felt herself almost being manipulated to ask her next question. Something ‘timey’ lay heavily on her, pushing her forward. She could feel it in her mind and it felt like it was directing her like a compass. “Doctor… why did the BeOth say that the Beothaia would bring renewed life? Why did they think that they’d all of a sudden become fertile if the TARDIS egg was fertilized?” Rose asked.

“Weellll, I’m not sure how they’d glommed on to that idea, Rose, but they’re not really wrong as far as science goes. The fertilized egg will release growth hormones into the dirt around it after it’s fertilized. Probably for miles around. Like I said… a bit of a resource hog, these baby TARDISes. Anyhow, the hormones could very well affect the fertility of the BeOth if they ingest food grown in the dirt around the egg. Interesting that they sorted that out. A bit suspect, actually…” his word faded off.

Rose nodded, looking around them in the moonlit grove. “Well, I’m not expert in all this Time Travel business…”

“Yet,” the Doctor interjected with a manic grin.

“Yet,” she agreed with a smile, “but I’m pretty sure we play a big part in all these prophecies the BeOth were talking about.”

“Oh yes? And why’s that, my brilliant Time Lady?” he asked, truly curious.

Rose stood on her tiptoes and leaned in to whisper in his ear, “Because we’re being watched.”

The Doctor’s head spiked up to look around them. Sure enough, in the distance, behind some bushes a little ways off, he could make out the glint of moonlight off of someone’s eye. And then another. And another. Rassilon - how many of them were watching?

“Ahhhh,” he said, acknowledging their role in the very mystery he’d been considering moments before.

“Ah,” Rose confirmed, grinning at him.

“Rose… you observant little minx!” he crowed, grabbing her up and twirling her around. She squealed and giggled heartily until he put her back down on the ground. “You just gave them the script for their prophecy! What did I do without you for all those hundreds of years?” he smiled toothily.

“Not sure, Doctor… but at least you won’t have to do it again… be without me, I mean.”

The Doctor pulled her in for a thorough, breath stealing (or at least, bypass inducing) snog. “Too right,” he grinned down at her. Then, noticing her bare feet in the grass beneath them, he directed, “Now finish getting dressed and let’s get back and find something to eat… I’m ravenous!”

The thought of a steaming plate of chips settled in Rose’s mind and nestled there comfortably. Within moments her stomach was rumbling noticeably as she tugged her trainers on. “I guess I’m hungry as well!” Rose said after her gut let out a loud burble. “Wow - that happened quickly!”

“New biology, Rose. Your body can ignore hunger longer than a human’s can. You’ve probably been hungry for a while. Well… let’s put an end to that!” he said reaching out his hand for her to take. Happily slipping her hand into his, they made their way back to the TARDIS, their arms swinging between them.

As he opened the door and ushered her inside, he allowed his thoughts to skitter over a few possible time lines that might be in store for them, not allowing himself to entertain even one negative possibility. Rose Tyler was the best thing to ever happen to him, and for once… just once… he wasn’t going to question it. He may not deserve this, but he was going to take it anyway. 

Turning to take one last look at BeOth, he had a sneaking suspicion this wasn’t the last time he’d see this place. Made sense, he supposed. Someone was going to have to adopt that baby TARDIS someday, after all. Hmmmm. He mulled that over for a moment and a grin tugged at the corner of his lips. Oh - to be able to see your own timeline. Occasionally he wished he could. This was one of those times.

“Doctor, you coming?” Rose’s voice drifted to him from inside. 

“Oh, yes,” he smiled, still looking out into the dark of the clearing. Then abruptly turning to face one beaming and reportedly hungry Rose Tyler, he said, “Allons-y!” and moved inside, only turning to close the doors tightly behind him.

 

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

 

As the mystical sound of the disappearing blue box echoed through the trees, the previously hidden BeOths slowly entered the clearing, having witnessed a miracle. The heavenly lights had drawn them here, but the words of the prophets would take them into the next thousand years. The blessed angels’ message played in the minds of those who heard them, and as they returned to their families to recount the events they’d experienced, they agreed that it was their sacred duty to make sure their people took stock of those words. The people of BeOth would one day be plentiful, thanks to Thaia and Beothocus; the servants of the holy Beothaia.


End file.
